Activists who recently protested outside Mongolia's parliament accusing lawmakers of corruption are demanding the government call new elections.
Some of the protesters said they were inspired by events in nearby Kyrgyzstan, where anti-government demonstrators forced the former Soviet republic's president from power.
Mongolian Prime Minister Tsakhilganiin Elbegdorj appealed for calm following the protests Friday, when about 5,000 people pushed past police to demonstrate on Sukhbatar Square outside parliament.
The protesters, who included teachers, shopkeepers, unemployed workers and homeless people, accused the parliament speaker of embezzlement and say graft is to blame for chronic poverty in the country.
"It's impossible to dissolve parliament, but you can work with us," Elbegdorj told protest leaders at a meeting on Monday, parts of which were shown on television.
Yesterday, one protest leader said another demonstration was planned for April 7, the day parliament is due to open its spring session.
"We will gather more people and we will hold more street demonstrations," said J. Batzandan, a 30-year-old lawyer and university lecturer.
This former Soviet satellite nation of 2.5 million people lodged between China and Russia introduced multiparty democracy in 1990 following street demonstrations.
Former Soviet-era leaders were voted out in the mid-1990s but then returned to power.
The capital has been the scene of frequent protests over poverty and complaints about land reform. In 2002, hundreds of farmers drove their tractors onto Sukhbatar Square to protest a plan to sell state-owned land they said would benefit friends of the ruling party.
On Friday, protesters waved flags and wore scarves in the movement's signature color of yellow.
"Let's congratulate our Kyrgyz brothers for their revolutionary spirit," the protesters chanted. "Let's free Mongolia of corruption."
The protest began in Liberty Square, where demonstrators had permission for a rally. They marched about 2km to Sukhbatar Square as police tried to stop them.
Police and protesters scuffled but no serious injuries were reported.
Critics accuse parliament speaker Nambariin Enkhbayar and other officials of embezzling 3.5 billion tugruk (US$3 million) during parliamentary elections last year that were marred by accusations from both sides of vote-buying and other abuses.
Police say they found no grounds to charge Enkhbayar or the other officials.
Enkhbayar, a former prime minister, is a member of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, which led the country under communism and is now part of a coalition government.
"It's time to get rid of these corrupt officials," said Tsogoo, a textile merchant who like many Mongolians uses one name. "That's why Mongolia is impoverished."
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS