Bangladesh Prime Minister Resigns Amid Anti-Government Protests, Flees to India: Army Chief Announces Interim Government

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled to neighboring India on Monday after protesters stormed her official residence after weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations in the South Asian nation.

Scenes of jubilation erupted on the streets as protesters celebrated the end of her 15 years in power by climbing on tanks and scaling an imposing statue of Hasina’s father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka, attacking the head with an ax.

In a national address, Bangladesh’s army chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman confirmed Hasina had resigned and said the military would form an interim government.

Addressing protesters, largely young Bangladeshis and students, he said: “Whatever demands you have we will fulfil and bring back peace to the nation, please help us in this, stay away from violence.”

“The military will not fire at anyone, the police will not fire at anyone, I have given orders,” he added.

A senior official from Bangladesh’s foreign ministry told CNN on Tuesday that Hasina is now in a “safer” location “close to Delhi.”

Images showed flames billowing from vehicles near Hasina’s house, and protesters inside the building, smashing walls and looting its contents.

Earlier in the day, the military and police had attacked demonstrators rallying in the area, according to a journalist working for CNN in Dhaka.

At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in clashes between police and protesters demanding the scrapping of quotas for government jobs and the resignation of the prime minister. Opponents argued the civil service job quotas were discriminatory.

The death toll on Sunday, which included 13 police officers, was the highest for a single day from any protests in the country’s recent history.

The figure surpassed the 67 deaths reported on July 19, when students took to the streets against the quotas, Reuters reported. At least 32 children were killed during protests last month, UNICEF said on Friday.

The widespread unrest – which spilled into the cities of Rajshahi, Barisal and Chittagong among others – prompted the government to impose an indefinite nationwide curfew over the weekend. Meanwhile, human rights groups accused authorities of using excessive force against protesters, a charge the government denied.

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Tuesday announced the release of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia – a bitter rival to Hasina – along with student protesters and those arrested on “false cases,” according to state news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).

Shahabuddin said the current parliament would be dissolved immediately and an interim government should be formed in consultation with all parties and stakeholders to hold elections as soon as possible, according to BSS.

Nafiz Basher, an organizing member of Students Against Discrimination, which led the protest movement, told CNN that the group’s movement’s representatives would meet the army chief on Tuesday.

Student leader Muhammad Nahid Islam said they hadn’t met all of their goals, and after Hasina’s resignation, the group wanted to “abolish fascist systems forever.”

He said the group wanted to see Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus lead an interim government. “We have given our blood, we have been martyred, our vision of forming a new Bangladesh will now have to be realised,” he said.

Yunus told CNN on Monday that he wanted to see the army hand control of the country to a civilian government. “People are celebrating on the street and millions and millions of people all over Bangladesh [are] celebrating as if this is our liberation day,” he said. (BBC News)