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ULAN BATOR: Armed soldiers patrolled the tense streets of Mongolia's capital on Wednesday amid a state of emergency that was imposed after protests over alleged vote-rigging left five people dead.
The government vowed it would prevent further unrest after Tuesday's upheaval, when around 8,000 people stormed through the centre of Ulan Bator, destroying buildings, torching cars and pelting police with rocks.
Five people were killed and 329 people injured in the protests, Justice Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil told reporters, adding that police had fired tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the unrest but that they had been overwhelmed.
"Border troops and armed forces are being used to improve security in the city because of an insufficient number of police," Munkh-Orgil said.
"We have word that certain groups are organising for large demonstrations after the end of the state of emergency. The government will suppress any such acts."
Mongolian President Nambariin Enkhbayar declared a four-day state of emergency on Tuesday to end the rioting, with the measures including a ban on alcohol sales and the closure of all media except government-run outlets.
A night-time curfew also was imposed while traffic was banned from the centre of Ulan Bator, where the worst of the violence erupted.
"This is the first ever state of emergency in Mongolia and I hope it will be the last," Munkh-Orgil said.
The unrest began after the former communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) claimed victory in Sunday's national elections over the Democratic Party, with which it had shared an uneasy coalition since 2004.
The General Election Committee has yet to make a formal announcement on the ballot. A spokesman for the committee, Purevdorjiin Naranbat, told AFP that a final decision did not have to be made public for another fortnight.
"By law we have to have a final result within 15 days, we are not late yet," Naranbat said.
After Democrats leader Tsakhia Elbegdorj alleged the MPRP had cheated its way to a supposed win, its supporters took to the streets in protest.
The Soviet-era headquarters of the MPRP, a concrete five-storey structure, was set alight and looted.
An AFP reporter who walked through the city on Wednesday also saw burnt-out cars and other damaged buildings, including the National Palace of Culture, a Soviet-era building that houses many national treasures.
"The invaluable collection of art inside was looted," Munkh-Orgil said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, said in a statement on Wednesday that he was alarmed by the violence and urged restraint.
Mongolia, a landlocked nation of nearly three million people, has a history of political intrigue and turmoil after emerging from 70 years as a Soviet satellite to hold its first democratic elections in 1992.
However the violence was among the worst the nation - famous for its ancient warrior history under Genghis Khan - had seen since adopting a democratic model, and many people here were left disenchanted.
"I sincerely appreciate my country and its history but I think this was an unfair election," said Denzin Chuluunbaatar, 45, a social worker, who was walking through the city on Wednesday.
"The politicians are not thinking about the country, they just think about themselves... It's just a small country so we can't fight each other. It would be terrible if there was a civil war."
As the protests erupted, Prime Minister Sanjagiin Bayar, of the MPRP, accused the Democrats and Elbegdorj of inciting the violence.
"The other party is accusing us of buying the election. It's not true, the election was free and fair," he said from the MPRP headquarters before it was ransacked.
Elbegdorj bluntly accused the MPRP in a press conference on Tuesday of "illegal activities" to rob the Democrats of victory.
"Ask eight of 10 people and they will say they voted for the Democratic Party. We lost because... corrupt people changed the results," he told reporters.
The MPRP, which ruled during the Soviet years, had claimed to have won 45 seats in the 76-seat Great Hural. State press said the Democrats had won 21 seats. - AFP/de
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