Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country on Monday, media reports said, as more people were killed in some of the worst violence since the birth of the South Asian nation more than five decades ago.
Sources are saying Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has left official residence for a “safer place” as protesters march through the capital, Dhaka.
Hasina, who has led Bangladesh since 2009, is onboard a helicopter heading to the Indian city of Agartala, according to BBC Bengali.
Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman is set to address the nation, but his speech has already been delayed. He is said to be meeting with “stakeholders”.
Hasina’s resignation comes as thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the capital Dhaka – with thousands more set to follow, a day after clashes between police and protesters left at least 90 people dead.
Some demonstrators have reportedly stormed Hasina’s official residence in Dhaka
The death toll in the violent clashes during student protests in the country is at least 300 according to police and doctors
At least 98 people were killed on Sunday due to violent clashes in the student protests against quota reforms in the country.
The total death toll is at least 300 according to police and doctors.
India has advised its citizens not to travel to Bangladesh until further notice with the renewed student protests demanding PM Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
The protests began last month, when the Bangladesh high court ruled in favour of reinstating a 30 per cent quota in government jobs for descendants of freedom fighters.
After Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina refused to meet the students’ demands to reverse the order, the protests intensified, leading to clashes with police and government supporting groups.
Over 200 people were killed and several injured during the movement in July.
The government had also cut off all connectivity through broadband or internet for 11 days, which was slowly restored after a while.
The protests had reduced for a while as talks began with the government but started again as students called for a nationwide civil disobedience movement and asked PM Sheikh Hasina to step down from her position.
Students were demanding a public apology from Hasina for the deaths and the removal of several of her ministers.
They also wanted the government to reopen schools and universities, which have been closed since the protests intensified.
Bangladesh had ordered a second internet blackout in three weeks after a new round of anti-government protests killed at least 90 people and injured hundreds more.
The unrest in Dhaka and elsewhere comes as student leaders declared a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down.
Entrances to Dhaka have been blocked, with army units and police deployed across the city, and and the government has announced a three-day holiday which has closed down businesses and the courts.
The student protests began with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs but turned into a wider anti-government movement. The total death toll now stands at more than 280, most of them protesters shot by security forces.
Thirteen police officers were killed on Sunday when thousands of people attacked a police station in the district of Sirajganj, police said.
Both police and some supporters of the governing party were seen shooting at anti-government protesters with live ammunition. Police also used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Mobile operators received orders from the government to shut off their 4G services on Monday, reports said.
The country is “again in the midst of a near-total national internet shutdown after earlier social media and mobile cuts”, said NetBlocks, a watchdog that monitors internet freedom.
Internet shutdowns are a familiar move for authoritarian governments to control the flow of information and suppress dissent. In 2023, there were 283 government-ordered internet outages across 39 countries – up from 202 shutdowns in 2018 – according to Access Now, a non-government organisation that tracks digital censorship.
On 18 July, the Bangladeshi government had also switched off the country’s mobile internet in an attempt to quell the protests. Broadband connectivity was restored a week later, while mobile internet services came back online days after.
But neither the internet blackout nor an indefinite nationwide curfew imposed on Sunday have hindered the protesters across Bangladesh.
On Monday, thousands of protesters started marching in Uttara, a suburb of Dhaka, chanting and demanding Ms Hasina’s resignation – under the watchful eye of army personnel and police officers who have been stationed across various points in the capital.
Amid calls for her resignation, Ms Hasina sounded defiant. Speaking after a meeting with security chiefs on Monday, she said the protesters were “not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation”.
Around 10,000 people have been reportedly detained in a major crackdown by security forces in the past two weeks. Those arrested included opposition supporters and students.
Some ex-military personnel have expressed support for the student movement, including ex-army chief General Karim Bhuiyan, who told journalists: “We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately.
He and other ex-military personnel condemned “egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests”.
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