Mongolian president Enkhbayar has declared a state of emergency in Ulaanbaatar after protesters clashed with police and besieged the headquarters of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP). The clash has shocked a city which has never before seen a protest turn so violent.

The protests erupted following the June 29^th parliamentary elections. While official results haven't been announced, preliminary results show that the MPRP has won 50 seats out of 76 seats. However, Mongolian Democratic Party, Civic Movement Party, Civic Courage Party, Republican Party, and independent candidates—nearly all opposition to the ruling MPRP—have claimed that the MPRP has illegally rigged the elections. The Democratic Party claimed that it would've won majority of seats had the election been free and fair. Liberty Center HAS received evidence of fraud and election malpractices by the MPRP, including the registering of new voters under false identity.

The protest that started on the evening of June 30^th continued in the afternoon of July 1^st on front of the MPRP headquarters. At around 2 pm, the leaders of the Civic Movement Party (CMP) and the Republican Party (RP) demanded the resignation of the Central Election Committee and new elections to be held. The protesters were mostly young people, aged probably around 17-27. The CMP and RP leaders left the protests around 4 pm. However, the protesters didn't disband, but grew in number. There were an estimated twenty thousand protesters, and the protests turned increasingly violent. The policemen lined up on front of the MPRP building were helpless as protesters started throwing rocks. The protests eventually turned into a full-scale battle between the protesters and the policemen, who started firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the protesters. Far from deterring them, the firing of rubber bullets seemed to anger the protesters even more. They were mainly using rocks, and wooden and metal fences that they uprooted from the surrounding area as weapons. More policemen and special task forces arrived; they managed to evacuate the MPRP building, but were unable to take control of the violence. The police started firing real bullets into the sky. At one point, the protesters overwhelmed the police, and set fire to the now-empty MPRP building, using alcohol and gasoline as fuel. The protesters also burned and looted property in nearby buildings. The clash continued until around midnight, and left 5 people dead. About a hundred policemen and many (no estimation has been given) protesters were injured.

At around midnight, president Enhbayar declared a four-day state of emergency, which gave the police special rights to quell the protests, and arrest those who were involved in organizing the protests. Alarmingly, the state of emergency also shut down all TV and radio stations except the Mongolian public television and radio. Liberty Center views the last measure as especially unnecessary and undemocratic. Moreover, Liberty Center is concerned that the ruling MPRP leaders might be tempted use the protests as an excuse to arrest their political opponents, who, according to the MPRP, have started and fueled the protests. Liberty Center urges all parties to use peaceful and democratic means to resolve their disputes. Furthermore, Liberty Center urges the president and the parliament to immediately lift the state of emergency, restore freedom of press, and resolve the election disputes.