12am, President Enkhbayar is set to declare a state of emergency for 4 days, and has ordered the military on a stand-by. No further details are available at the moment.
The rioters attacked the MPRP headquarters in a bulldozer and have now taken to Sukhbaatar square. The riots escalated further and the Sukhbaatar police headquarters were attacked just earlier.
Update: State of emergency has been declared in Ulaanbaatar for 4 days. As of midnight, there are still around 500 protesters at Sukhbaatar square (with their bulldozer taken from the Shangri-la construction site). The government has ordered a shutdown of all television channels except for the national TV.
Update: The first 4 floors of the MPRP HQ are ablaze. The building has been evacuated according to news reports. Eagle TV reporters are stuck on the roof (see Thomas Terry's blog, link below).
Design Research for Health: Mongolia has a firsthand account of the riots.
Eagle TV has been covering the riots live, and have received threats from the authorities to stop their coverage. Thomas Terry's blog (of Eagle TV's) has an update on the events surrounding Eagle TV.
Update: The rioters have set fire to Sukhbaatar district HQ & the Registrar's office. The rioters have reached the University of Arts & Culture (SUIS), just behind the city square.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Mongolia Riots: State of Emergency
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Just sad.
I am a Taiwanese here in UB to perform in a concert. Thanks for the prompt info. And I am curious to hear your personal view.
What a poor timing for your concert.
Personally I find the turn of events disturbing, but not unexpected. What this heralds for the new government is uncertain. I am rather divided on this issue. I do support the DP as a party and their more left-leaning policies, on the other hand I also support S.Bayar, the current PM, who has been an exemplary leader during his short time in office. Can't have everything eh. Under the circumstances, S.Bayar would make a better leader than anyone else. But those circumstances have taken a drastic turn tonight with the riots.
There's no fire to see at Sukhbaatar District office and the Registration Office; but there are still shots
yes, I heard shots from my hotel room just now
I am a Mongolian in US, I am so worried about all this. I blame the DP leader for all this mess. But what can I do?
The shots are to scare people. It is not real gunfires. Eagle TV gives also very biased info.
They're shooting at the rioters with rubber bullets, not real bullets. I guess Eagle TV should've clarified on this. 3 people so far have died in the riots, one of them from smoke asphyxiation in the MPRP and the other 2 during the riots. Nobody was shot.
I think Elbegdorj was irresponsible in his public statements regarding the elections. The riots themselves were organized by Civic Movement & MGL Republic Party and many others. So I guess the blame is not entirely on Elbegdorj
I would say the MPRP should also share the blame because they seem to be more concerned about their wealth than the prosperity of the nation, which has frustrated people. It is hard to tell today what kind of party the MPRP is. Socialist? Social democrat? Communist? They have simply become a union of several "political" groups with economic interests.
Let me relay something that happened during the meeting last night with the President, Prime Minister, DP Leader Elgbegdorj and various others. While the riots were going on outside, and it was clear that the police could not control the situation. People were getting more violent. At exactly at this point of time, there were various people who expressed their disappointment at the election results. And what measures they would like the President to take. S.Bayar, PM of Mongolia, expressed his sadness that, people are discussing election results when a riot threatening national security and safety is to begin outside. He expressed that at that meeting, their number one concern should be protecting the citizens from harm.
I believe it is even more clear now after what happened, who would be a better leader to be Prime Minister of Mongolia. Both DP and MPRP have their fair share of corrupt officials, i don't deny that. Both have played dirty tricks.
But such is the circumstances in Mongolia now. Somebody has to be elected into the parliament and to be the Prime Minister to START MAKING CHANGES.
Let's ask ourselves, in our circumstances today, who would be a better leader to bring Mongolia forward?
I believe ulitmately there are protests because Mongolians have not truly understand the dynamics of democracy.
We have to understand the dynamics of 'majority wins'. There could be 40% of the votes who voted for DP. It is a big percentage. There could be even 49% who voted for DP. But besides that 49%, people have not understood that there is another 51% who voted otherwise.
I couldn't agree with you more Anon. Even some reasonably well educated Mongolians can't seem to grasp the concept of majority. To them, if their coworkers, family and friends all voted for DP, then that's how the election results should be. They can't comprehend that there another set of voters who just might vote opposite. Now they're crying foul and blaming MPRP for stealing the election. As a Mongolian who's saddened by the turn of the events this morning, I'm hoping for S.Bayar to continue on as a Prime Minister.
How could 51% vote for MPRP? Example: there are 20 people in our office. Only one voted MPRP. There are 70+ members in our family. 6 voted for MPRP. None of our friends voted for MPRP. Where does 51% come from? No wonder people are angry. Election was rigged.
You are saying "mojority", but where are they? If the MPRP was a mjority, I'd say that we have to run to MPRP voters a lot more. Almost every taxi driver, every group of people in public places are wondering how MPRP is winning... MPRP has its dirty ways and has too much money and authority. If only Bayar came out and met with the people in the afternoon (when it still was peacful), all of this could have been prevented. Instead he sends in the police. No wonder people are reacting...
BTW, the demonstartes started gathering looong before Elebgdorj's address to people. He, of course, didn't help with his remarks, but he definetely not the one who started all these. MPRP did!!!
Actually people who started all this are Batzandan, Magnai, and Jargalsaihan. Rumours are that they encouraged young people to demonstrate by bribing with money and alcohol. Crowd size has gotten larger afterwards from curious high schoolers, bystanders, and others with the only intention to take part in the excitement. Elbegdorj had the chance to calm down people and urge them to stop the violence, but instead he chose to add fuel to the fire.
Can't agree with you Mongol. People would have demonstarted with or without any body telling them. I mean, who in their right mind will just go there out of curiosity. They were there because they agreed!!! Don't try to find the guilty among the rioters. The real guilty people are those who brought people into this state by their unfair actions.
Let me give my statistics.
There are 12 people in my office who all favour MPRP.
And i know family members and friends who favour MPRP as well.
in our office, i noticed just one or two person out of 20 supported MPRP. among my friends maybe 10% supported MPRP, and most of them just happened to live in Sukhbaatar district and supported Bayar. Just my personal observation.