Bangladesh’s prime minister resigns and flees after weeks of protests

Dhaka, Aug 5, (dpa/GNA) – Weeks of violent student protests which led to the death of about 300 people, have led to the toppling of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, marking a tumultuous end to her 15-year tenure.

Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman confirmed on Monday that Hasina had resigned.

“An interim government will be formed,” he told a news briefing, after a meeting with leaders of different political parties, excluding those from Hasina’s Awami League party.

“Justice will be done for all those killings and atrocities, please keep confidence in the army,” he urged, calling on protesting students to remain patient and refrain from further violence.

Hasina, the longest-serving prime minister in Bangladesh’s history, fled to India, according to a foreign ministry official.

Following news of Hasina’s resignation, numerous Awami League offices and leaders’ homes across Dhaka and other areas were attacked and looted.

Protesters, seen dancing and chanting slogans against Hasina, gathered at Dhaka University campus, the initial site of the protests against the controversial public job quota system.

Thousands of protesters stormed the prime minister’s official residence, known as the Ganabhaban, in Dhaka after she had left the country.

In footage posted online by a local broadcaster, protesters are seen looting items from the residence, some were swimming in the pool, while others smoked cigarettes in the chambers of the members of parliament.

Earlier on Monday, thousands of people again took to the streets and vowed to “march to Dhaka” to demand the resignation of the prime minister.

The authorities had already given in to the students’ demands to reform an unpopular job quota system, after protests in mid-July left more than 200 people dead.

Since then, the protesters have been asking the government to ensure justice for the victims of police atrocities, a lifting of the curfew and the reopening of educational institutions.

On Saturday, student leaders escalated their demands by calling for the government’s resignation and urging civil disobedience.

They encouraged citizens to refuse paying taxes and utility bills, to keep offices, factories, and public transport closed, and to reject the government’s offer to end the violence through dialogue.

On Sunday, more violent clashes reportedly led to about 100 more deaths, including 14 policemen.

Hasina has been criticized for being authoritarian by her political opponents and many international rights group. Her supporters call her the daughter of democracy.

Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, escaped a brutal military coup in 1975 in which their father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated along with most of their family, because they were out of the country at the time.

Returning from exile in 1981, Hasina assumed leadership of the Awami League party.

Under her guidance, the party played a pivotal role in the “anti-autocrat” movements against military dictator, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, in the 1980s.

In 1996, she became prime minister for the first time after her party secured victory in the parliamentary elections, marking the beginning of her leadership which lasted for five years.

Since then, her party has won several general elections, most recently in 2024. However, opposition groups have alleged electoral fraud.

In the aftermath of her resignation, protesters set fire to Awami League offices in Dhaka.

They also torched Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s home, Hasina’s father, from where he had announced Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971 and where he was assassinated in 1975.

The home was turned into a museum a few years ago in his memory. The protesters also toppled a statue of him near the prime minister’s office.

GNA