Still bleary-eyed from an endless journey out of Beijing, and I'm waking to the distressing news that the parliamentary election results in my beloved Mongolia, indicating that the former Communist party has won a solid majority of seats, have provoked almost unprecedented violent protests. Michael Kohn's report for the AFP seems the most up-to-date in English since he's actually in-country, Olloo's English site has pix, while this Mongolian news site has more pix that are downright alarming.
Can my readers in Mongolia fill us in with details, eyewitness if you can, in the comments?
For the rest of us, please pray for a peaceful resolution to this.
UPDATE: Pray harder. It's getting worse. Per Allison in the comments, Jaspal's eyewitness account, with photos, here. Asian Gypsy's got more here and here. Though I'm ordinarily loath to link to right-wing evangelicals, Tom Terry's got more at his blog though, as always, it's more about him and his station than the situation itself. Some folks seem to feel that their non-stop live coverage during the protests made them worse. I'm agnostic on the point but welcome comments from inside Mongolia. My one thought is that, as with China in Tibet, the MPRP would do well not to create scapegoats, but rather to take a good honest look at their role in what has made people this frustrated and angry.
UPDATE 2: Mongolian government declares four-day state of emergency. I hope Sakyadhita's Buddhist Women's Conference can go forward. Probably so, it's outside of town and the curfew's only at night.
UPDATE 3: I'm shocked to learn that official statements list five dead in the unrest, as well as several hundred injured. The clampdown has restored calm, but you can be sure there's more simmering and it's going to take some real skill to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.
Hi,
Check out jaspal's account. He was in the UB hotel when this mess broke out.
http://jaspal.typepad.com/mongolia/2008/07/election-update-violent-protest-at-maxh.html
Now, at 11pm things are pretty quite in th city with the exception of sukhbataar square. The news is still reporting live footage of fires. It looks like some cars and the MPRP building. The smoke cloud is massive over the square.
The news is reporting that the banks are closed. And the the duty free (in the MPRP building?) was looted.
We have been hearing a few gun shots, but mostly it's quite outside.
-Allison (you probably dont remember me, I'm a friend of lisa fink)
Posted by: Allison | July 01, 2008 at 11:18 AM
The President has met with Ts. Togoo, general of the armed forces and requested that they be put on "standby", IE get ready for martial law.
The bulldozer that they stole from the MCS construction is now on Sukhbaatar square as well...
This is not democracy.
Posted by: Luke | July 01, 2008 at 11:43 AM
See what happens? You leave and the whole country falls apart! Actually I can sympathize with their frustration. Perhaps they are sick of the government selling their country down the river to only the politicians' profit. I just pray that something good will come out of this.
Posted by: Palzang | July 01, 2008 at 04:00 PM
I checked your blog this morning after hearing the alarming news on Israel's radio news, broadcast every half hour. As an indication of how bad things must be, our news that is usually dedicated to further excrutiatingly pointless details of the Arab Israeli conflict or just more stories about our corrupt politicians, actually headlined with news from UB. I hope things calm down quickly. And what's this about you leaving UB? Will you be returning as a resident at the end of the summer, or only for short visits? I hope you'll keep blogging from the States.
Posted by: Zendette | July 02, 2008 at 03:11 AM
May people be calm and may people protest peacefully. May Mongolia continue to progress democratically as an ever increasing fruitful support for the Dharma. May the light of compassion, wisdom and spiritual power continue to shine in the minds and hearts of all beings in Mongolia and shine from Mongolia to liberate all beings.
Posted by: Kirt Undercoffer | July 02, 2008 at 07:36 AM
Hi Zendette -- I'm not leaving UB. I'm due back 8/28 and staying the fall at least. Hopefully, all will have been peacefully resolved before then.
Thank you, Kirt. Will I see you at retreat at all?
Posted by: Konchog | July 02, 2008 at 08:41 AM
Hi Konchog! Please stay safe and well. And may all people in UB and everywhere be safe and well. I am working in a special summer program that is going for most of the summer however I will try to be up at retreat as best I can on the weekends.
Posted by: Kirt Undercoffer | July 02, 2008 at 06:59 PM
Im so sorry.I didnt know about
this nor do i know about the politics.
very sorry,will pay attention
waving monkey
Posted by: waving monkey | July 02, 2008 at 10:14 PM