Bangladesh Prime Minister Resigns and Flees to a “safer place”.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned after hundreds stormed her official house demanding her resignation after weeks of violent anti-government riots.
Before the masses arrived at her home Ms. Hasina fled the nation for a “safer place” according to an aide.
A second round of protests the day before the resignation killed 90 and injured hundreds.
Initial protests in Dhaka and other cities over public sector quotas quickly became a widespread rejection of the administration.
On Monday, army soldiers and police deployed the prime minister across the city of Dhaka, blocking entrances to the capital.
A few hours after the shutdown, the internet was also back up and running.
The government also declared a three-day “holiday” that closed businesses and courts, which many mistook for a curfew.
Despite protest leaders’ call for a “long march to Dhaka” tens of thousands gathered in the capital. Following Sunday’s killings, who were primarily demonstrators, there was a great deal of anger.
It was observed that anti-government protestors were being shot at with live ammunition by both police and some supporters of the ruling party. Authorities additionally deployed tear gas and rubber bullets.
On Sunday, a police station in the Sirajganj district was attacked by thousands of people, resulting in the deaths of thirteen officers, according to the authorities. Following Monday’s attack, two additional police officers succumbed to their injuries. There were allegations of other additional demonstrators being slain in other locations.
The majority of the 300 casualties in the weeks-long upheaval have been protestors shot by security personnel told by the Prime minister.
The government reportedly ordered mobile providers to turn off 4G services on Monday.
“Again in the midst of a near-total national internet shutdown after earlier social media and mobile cuts,” stated NetBlocks, an organization that keeps tabs on internet freedom in the country.
As of 18 July, the government of Bangladesh had also attempted to halt the protests by turning off the country’s mobile internet. A week later, mobile internet services were back up and running, and broadband connectivity was restored a week after that.
Protesters across Bangladesh have persisted despite the internet outage and the indefinite statewide curfew that was enforced on Sunday.
Under the careful eyes of army men and police officials stationed across the capital, thousands of demonstrators began their march in Uttara, a suburb of Dhaka, on Monday, chanting and demanding Ms. Hasina’s resignation.
At first, Ms. Hasina seemed stubborn despite demands for her resignation. The leader said that the demonstrators were “not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation” during Monday’s meeting with security leaders.
Authorities are displaying “restraint,” according to Law and Justice Minister Anisul Huq, who spoke on Sunday’s BBC Newshour interview.
A carnage would have ensued if we hadn’t shown self-control. I suppose there are limitations to our tolerance,” he chimed in.
Injuries and fatalities have been recorded throughout, especially in the Bogra, Pabna, and Rangpur districts in the north.
There were violent occurrences in other districts of Dhaka on Sunday, while hundreds of people congregated in a key square.
The entire city has become a battlefield, according to an anonymous police officer who spoke to the AFP news agency. According to him, a group of thousands of demonstrators had gathered outside of a hospital and set fire to multiple vehicles.
Dhaka was the target of a call to action from prominent civil disobedience campaigner Asif Mahmud for a Monday march.
“The time has come for the final protest,” stated the president.
The anti-government protest organizers, Students Against Discrimination, asked participants not to pay their taxes or electricity bills.
Public transportation and all factories should be shut down immediately, according to the students.
A massive crackdown by security personnel in the previous two weeks has allegedly resulted in the detention of almost 10,000 individuals. Opposition supporters and students were among those who were arrested.
General Karim Bhuiyan, an ex-army commander, told reporters, “We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately.” Other former military officers have also spoken out in favor of the student movement.
“Egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests” were denounced by him and other former military figures.
Last month, students began taking to the streets in protest of a quota that awarded one third of civil service positions to relatives of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war with Pakistan.
The government has reduced the quota in response to a Supreme Court decision, but students are still holding demonstrations to demand accountability for the victims and the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Before this, Ms. Hasina extended an unequivocal invitation to the student leaders to meet with her.
The movement’s agitated students are people I want to sit with and hear their stories. “I desire an absence of conflict,” she declared.
However, that offer has been turned down by the student demonstrators.
Reports in Bangladeshi media indicate that police shot and killed the majority of protesters during last month’s unrest. It hurt thousands.
According to the administration, the police only used their weapons in self-defense and to save state properties.
