Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned yesterday and fled the country as hundreds of people were killed in a crackdown on demonstrations that began as protests against job quotas and turned into a movement calling for her removal.
A crowd of people broke into the prime minister's luxury residence without any hindrance, taking away furniture and televisions. Elsewhere in Dhaka, protesters climbed a statue of Hasina's father, the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and began chopping off her head with an axe, Reuters reported.
Hasina's exile comes less than seven months after she celebrated her fourth consecutive term in power, and fifth overall. The last 15 years of her rule were marked by arrests of opposition leaders, suppression of freedom of speech and opposing voices.
Her father, who led Bangladesh's struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971, was killed along with most of her family in a military coup in 1975. She was lucky to be in Europe at the time.
Hasina left the country for her own safety at the insistence of her family, her son Sajeb Wazed Joy told the BBC.
Hasina was "so disappointed that after so much hard work, there was a minority revolt against her," Joy said. He added that she would not try to stage a political comeback.
Army Chief General Vaker-Uz-Zaman earlier yesterday announced Hasina's resignation in an address to the nation and said that an interim government would be formed. He called for peace and promised justice for those who died in the unrest.
Zaman said he had spoken to leaders of the main political parties, excluding Hasina's Awami League party, and would soon meet with President Mohammad Shahabuddin to discuss next steps.
Indian news agency ANI reported that Hasina (76) landed at a military airport near Delhi.
"The country is going through a revolutionary period," said Zaman (58), who became the head of the army only on June 23. "I promise you all, we will fight for justice for all murders and injustices. Please believe in the country's army," he said and asked citizens to return to peaceful ways
Bangladesh has been gripped by violence since student protests last month against quotas, which reserve some civil service jobs for veterans of Bangladesh's independence war, seen as favoring allies of the ruling party.
The protests escalated into a campaign calling for Hasina's ouster, and were met with a violent crackdown that killed around 300 people and injured thousands.
Hasina won a fourth consecutive term in January in elections boycotted by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of her rival Begum Khaleda Zia.
Hasina has ruled since winning a decades-long power struggle with Zia in 2009. Both inherited political movements from slain rulers - Hasina from her father Mujib, and Zia from her husband Ziaur Rahman, who took over after Mujib's death and was also assassinated in 1981.
"Hasina's resignation proves the power of the people," said Tarik Rahman, the opposition leader's eldest son, who is currently the acting president of the opposition party.
"Together, let's rebuild Bangladesh into a democratic and developed nation, where the rights and freedoms of all people are protected," he announced on Iks.
Student activists had called for a march in Dhaka yesterday, defying a national curfew, to pressure Hasina to resign after clashes across the country killed nearly 100 people on Sunday.
Yesterday, at least six people were killed in clashes between police and protesters in the capital of Bangladesh, local media reported.
The death toll on Sunday, which included at least 13 police officers, was the highest for a single day of any protest in Bangladesh's recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets against quotas.
Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence sparked by student groups protesting employment quotas.
AFP announced that the government will end the curfew this morning, which was declared at 18 p.m. on Sunday.
Over the weekend, there were attacks, vandalism and arson targeting government buildings, Hasina's party offices, police stations and houses of public representatives.
Bangladesh Railway said it has suspended all services indefinitely due to the escalating violence.
The country's clothing factories, which supply some of the world's leading brands, are also closed indefinitely.
The role of the military in addressing the country's violence came under the spotlight when a group of retired army officers called on Hasina to withdraw troops from the streets and take "political initiatives" to resolve the crisis.
Hasina's critics, along with rights groups, have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, which she and her ministers have denied.
Hasina said that "those who commit violence are not students but terrorists who want to destabilize the nation".
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