What is Really Going On?

After reading some of the latest international news regarding the rioting yesterday evening, I am actually surprised by some of the distance between the words of the stories and the reality of the streets. The most striking thing to note is the number of people who were supposedly protesting. It appeared to me from the television feed of the event that at most several hundred people were actually protesting and ultimately turned to acts of vandalism. The vast majority of people appeared to be bystanders who had come out to watch a truly unprecedented event in Mongolia's democratic history. I have seen estimates of 8,000 to 20,000 protesters out in the streets, but that just seems absurd to me based on what I saw. But, then again, I was watching from the television, and I could not hear what every person in the crowd was saying. So, as with all things in Mongolia, where accurate information is concerned, people may argue for years about who was doing what and where the blame lies.