Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 49 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Mongolians attempt to storm

Government Palace as protests

over coal profits scandal swell

ASIA For Mongolian youth, word of a scandal in majority of the protesters strived to keep it
which officials are said to have embezzled state peaceful. There were few reports of police and
coal export profits was the straw that broke the protesters being injured.
camel’s back on December 5 as hundreds assem- It was the second time this year that Mongo-
bled for an Ulaanbaatar demonstration that saw lian youth had marched on Sukhbaatar Square,
a minority attempt to storm Government Palace, demanding accountability from elected officials.
breaking windows and tearing down perimeter To do so this time round, they braved a winter
fences in the process. temperature of around -25°Celsius.
The protest was a follow-up to a Decem- This latest protest is widely regarded as a
ber 4 gathering of just dozens who assembled response to the perceived lack of action from the
at the Palace to demand the names of officials government that has followed the first demon-
who have allegedly stolen state coal shipment stration, a two-day protest that took place in
profits of Mongolian tughrik (MNT) 44 tril- early April.
lion ($12.8bn). As the unrest grew, the State Ikh Responding to demands made in that first
Khural (Parliament) held an emergency session protest, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsan-
in an online format and Ulaanbaatar Gover- namsrai promised to keep inflation low, find
nor and Mayor Dolgorsurengiin Sumiyaabazar solutions to address wages that mire citizens
issued an order to use force to disperse protest- in poor living standards and cut government
ers on the capital’s central square, named Sukh- spending. Sadly, by the end of October, Mon-
baatar Square, and near the Palace. Local news golian inflation was running at 14.5% and the
provider Eguur reported that all the protesters impoverished population had been treated to
left Sukhbaatar Square by 11pm local time after several gaffes from a government seen hold-
the police forcefully intervened, but not before ing extravagant events during public holidays
other incidents such as the setting aflame of a attended by administration officials and foreign
straw Christmas tree. dignitaries. To top things off, Mayor Dolgor-
There were anxieties that the protest could surengiin drew unfavourable attention by allo-
turn more violent, but it did not because the cating MNT 3.2bn (towards $1mn) in expenses

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