Mongolia PM quits, blames president over Covid protests
2 min read Mongolia’s prime minister resigned a day after protests in opposition to his authorities’s Covid-19 management measures erupted in capital Ulaanbaatar.
Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa submitted his resignation and a proposal to dissolve his authorities Thursday after tons of gathered outdoors the parliament constructing to show in opposition to the insurance policies. Parliament, which is managed by Khurelsukh’s Mongolian People’s Party, voted overwhelmingly Thursday to just accept his resignation.
In a speech Thursday, the premier accused President Battulga Khaltmaa, from the rival Democratic Party, of orchestrating the protests. Battulga, whose time period expires later this yr, expressed shock at Khurelsukh’s remarks in a separate speech.
“I wonder and wonder why the prime minister of Mongolia did such an act that undermined the trust of the Mongolian people, undermined national unity and openly slandered the president of Mongolia,” Battulga mentioned, in line with a transcript on the presidential web site.
The protests erupted after a video showing to indicate a mom being swiftly discharged from a neighborhood maternity hospital in a bathrobe as a result of she had examined optimistic for the coronavirus was extensively circulated on-line. Demonstrators flocked to parliament to protest her remedy Wednesday, some carrying solely bathrobes and slippers to indicate solidarity with the girl.
While the protests weren’t unusually massive, they lasted effectively into the winter night time, the place temperatures can fall as little as -40 levels Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit). Protesters mentioned they have been upset extra broadly with prolonged lockdowns and restrictions on motion, in addition to a ban on cross-border journey.
The huge nation of three.3 million individuals — landlocked between Russia and China — has thus far prevented the mass coronavirus outbreaks which have troubled others. Mongolia has reported fewer than 1,600 infections since March, with 526 lively instances as of Thursday.
