Mongolia declares state of emergency
Updated
![The protesters have taken to the streets of the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator. [ABC News]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/gallery/mongolia_unrest_abc_010708.jpg "The protesters have taken to the streets of the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator. [ABC News]")
The protesters have taken to the streets of the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator. [ABC News]
Mongolian president, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, has declared a four-day state of emergency due to violent protests by thousands of people in the capital Ulan Bator.
Angry demonstrators have rioted in the capital after the outcome of last weekend's election.
Our reporter in Ulan Bator, Nicky Redl, says the protesters burned down the headquarters of the ruling People's Revolutionary Party.
Demostrators set a car alight, threw rocks , and burned a neighbouring building.
The masses blocked firefighting trucks from getting to the flames, only letting them pass in the early hours of the morning.
Police used rubber bullets and batons against demonstrators
People yelled that they wouldn't be intimidated and that they'd had enough of the MPRP.
Author of the Lonely Planet's Guide to Mongolia, Michael Kohn, has told Radio Australia's Breakfast Club program it was mainly the disenfranchised poor who were involved in the violence, burning and looting of buildings.
"Middle class people were gathered in the square protesting these elections," he said.
"They were supporters of the Democratic Party and just a few hundred metres away was this very violent protest againt the MPR building the headquarters of the ruling party and it was this place where these poor people gathered and attacked the building."
