Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigns and flees country, celebrations break out

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DHAKA, Bangladesh – Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country Monday as protesters stormed her residence and set fire to government offices, marking an end to a 15-year rule that had faced violent opposition in recent months.

Hasina’s resignation was officially announced in a televised address by the army chief, Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman. An interim government will be formed in the coming days, he said. Thousands of protesters had flooded Hasina’s official residence earlier in the day, calling for her ouster. Weeks of bloody clashes between protesters and Hasina’s security forces intensified this past weekend, with dozens killed on Sunday.

“Please trust the armed forces. I am taking full responsibility to protect all lives and property,” Waker-Uz-Zaman said in the address, in which he called for an end to the violence and promised a full investigation.

“I assure you that you will not be disappointed,” he said, adding, “Every single death will be investigated, every atrocity will be discussed.”

According to local media reports, Hasina escaped her residence minutes before it was stormed by protesters. She left for India and was accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana on the helicopter, local media reported.

Celebrating in the streets of Dhaka, Rakibul Islam, a student of Abudharr Ghifari College in the Bangladeshi capital, said he had been at the demonstrations since they started in early July and was confident that the student protesters would prevail.

“It seems that we have been liberated again. I am over the moon,” said Islam, after Hasina left the country. “I am going to celebrate this victory for a long, long time.”

At noon Monday, the government announced that the army chief would address the nation, asking protesters to keep calm until then. As street barriers were removed in Dhaka, protesters such as Islam gathered in Shahbagh Square. He and a group of friends, all of whom wearing red ribbons on their heads in protest, said they were heading to the Prime Minister’s official residence, known as the Ganabhaban.

Television footage showed thousands of angry protesters storming the prime minister’s home, some climbing atop a statue of the country’s founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – who is also Hasina’s father.

Others recorded videos of themselves inside what appeared to be Hasina’s living room. Local media also broadcast footage of protesters breaking into Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan’s residence and setting fire to the ruling Awami League party’s office in the capital.

The students have been calling for Hasina’s resignation and for an end to a government policy that reserves half of government jobs for certain groups, including family members of those who fought in the country’s 1971 war for independence against Pakistan. A fierce government response saw some 200 people killed last month in clashes between security forces and student protesters, the Associated Press reported.

A fresh bout of protests took place Sunday, where around 100 people were killed in clashes. The government imposed a curfew and an internet shutdown that was partially lifted Monday morning.

On Sunday, Hasina said the protesters were “not students, but terrorists,” according to local news reports.

The 30 percent job quota for “freedom fighters” and their relatives was canceled by the Hasina government after violent protests in 2018. It was reinstated by a Bangladeshi court in June, at Hasina’s urging.

In a controversial election in January, Hasina’s Awami League and its allies won a majority after the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the election, citing a crackdown against the party. Thousands of opposition leaders and supporters were arrested in the run-up to the election.

Hasina’s flight and the chaos at the prime minister’s residence were reminiscent of events in Sri Lanka in 2022, when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hastily left the country. The public anger there stemmed from a months-long protest against an unprecedented economic crisis.

This is “a new liberation” for Bangladesh, said Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of the Citizens for Good Governance civil society organization.

“Our generation fought for the liberation of Pakistan in 1971. This generation fought for another liberation. This was the people’s war, and they have won.”

Addon from Reuters:

Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina lands in India, CNN News18 says

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina landed in India’s northeastern city of Agartala on Monday after fleeing Dhaka, broadcaster CNN-News18 reported.

India is set to offer a safe passage to Hasina, the report said, citing intelligence sources.