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Mongolian president declares state of emergency
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-02 09:10 ULAN BATOR - Mongolian President Nambariin Enkhbayar declared Tuesday a four-day state of emergency as protestors went on the rampage in the capital claiming that weekend elections were rigged.
"From 11:30 pm (1530 GMT) on Tuesday there will be a four-day state of emergency," said a presidential decree read out on state television. The decree warned that anyone caught on the streets after the 10:00pm curfew without documentation would be arrested. Public gatherings and independent media broadcasts were also banned.
The action came after thousands of people took to the streets of the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator on Tuesday to voice their outrage at weekend elections they claim were rigged. The headquarters of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) in the centre of Ulan Bator was set alight and looted, according to an AFP reporter and other witnesses at the scene. Some of an estimated 6,000 protesters from the rival Democratic Party -- which claims the MPRP bought votes and used other tactics to win Sunday's election -- threw rocks at firefighters arriving to put out the blaze. Police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas but the clashes continued and the violence later spread to other parts of the capital. A police station was attacked when protesters attempted to free rioters imprisoned earlier in the day. Part of the Cultural Palace, which contains an art gallery, a museum and a theatre, was on fire early Wednesday as violence continued despite the emergency decree. Later TV images appeared to show the situation was calmer. Early reports said 30 policemen and 25 civilians had been injured. |
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