Mongolian Communists Offer to Resign in Face of Protests

Mongolia’s Communist leaders offered to resign Friday in the face of protests by thousands of people calling for multi-party democracy, East Bloc news agencies reported from the capital Ulan Bator.

The East German news agency ADN and the Soviet news agency Tass also said a national referendum will be organized to give the people an opportunity to say whether they had confidence in the Mongolian Parliament, the People’s Great Hural.

The announcement by Mongolian President and Communist Party leader Jambyn Batmonh marked the first time the revolution sweeping through the Communist bloc has threatened a regime in Asia.

Friday’s events brought the wave of political reform to the doorstep of China, which crushed its own democracy movement last spring with the army attack on protesters in Beijing.

Demonstrators crowded the vast central square of Ulan Bator on Friday to demand a new constitution and creation of a provisional congress with the participation of all public forces, Tass said. Early reports said the square was teeming with thousands of protesters.

Many speakers called for a general strike starting today, Tass said.

Batmonh responded Friday evening on national television with the promise that the Communist Party’s Central Committee will meet Monday to consider the resignation of the top leaders in the Politburo and the convening of a special party congress, Tass said.

Tass said members of the Mongolian Democratic Union and other public movements ended their three-day hunger strike after the announcement Friday.