Thousands in Mongolia brave freezing weather to protest graft

Thousands of Mongolians braved temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius in Ulaanbaatar to take to the streets in protest against graft and demand the resignation of the country's parliamentary speaker. It was one of Mongolia's largest demonstrations, prompted by corruption, bribery scandals and embezzlement of government funds that have triggered widespread anger among citizens over the past year. Organisers of Thursday's protest in the capital said around 25,000 people took to the streets in Ulaanbaatar, while local police capped their estimate at 5,000. "Our country's wealth has been robbed", said lawmaker Batzandan Jambalsuren during an opening speech at the protest. The two main political parties in Mongolia and parliamentary speaker Enkhbold Miyegombo have been "breaking the country into many pieces", he added. Enkhbold has been accused of selling government positions, such as vice minister and state secretary, to raise at least 60 billion tugrik ($24 million). Calls for Enkhbold to step down came after an unsuccessful no confidence vote by parliament last month, which sought to sack Mongolia's prime minister and his cabinet amid a corruption scandal implicating high-level politicians in a state fund embezzlement scheme. Political instability has been a constant problem for the young democracy, which passed its first constitution in 1992 after decades of Communist rule. The country has been through 15 different cabinets in the years since, each lasting an average of 1.5 years. Since the no confidence vote in November, 40 MPs have boycotted plenary sessions, and the Mongolian parliament has not been able to hold a regular session for five consecutive weeks, delaying legislation and the appointment of ministers. Mongolia has fallen for two years in a row in a Transparency International corruption index, and ranked 103 out of 180 countries in 2017.