All is quiet

Hi,

The protests/riots finally made the pages of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Ironically, by the time the US papers were reporting the event it was all over in Mongolia. The State of Emergency was officially lifted at 8AM this morning. The police have left their posts at the street corners and people are going back to work.

It looks like things have settled down. There was a good deal of damage to the Communist Party Head Quarters and the attached cultural institutions (the entire National Horse Head Fiddle Ensemble was looted, all of their instruments and costumes were stolen) and the Children's Library was destroyed.

Overall, Mongolians seem sad that things came to that. Some are still very enraged at the government, but they are planning more peaceful ways (election re-counts or a reelection) rather than more protests.

~Allison