1981: Ziaur Rahman is shot dead
Political uncertainty shrouded Bangladesh after a disgruntled general leading some army rebels shot dead President Ziaur Rahman and eight aides in their sleep in the southern port city of Chittagong. Vice-President Abdus Sattar swiftly took control of the government in Dhaka, declared an “internal emergency” and slapped near martial law restrictions. But the mutineers seemed to be in control of the Chittagong area. The assassins named as Major General Manzur Ahmad and four brigadiers of the Chittagong-based army division and said they had been dismissed from service. The President was shot at dawn while he was sleeping in the official guest house. Sattar put all major towns under indefinite curfew and declared a 40-day period of mourning. Army Chief of Staff Lt Gen H.M. Ershad called on the rebel leader to “surrender immediately” to the central government. While troops were reported patrolling the streets in Dhaka and the capital was placed under curfew, no arrests had been reported.May 30
Other important events on May 30
1808 France’s Napoleon Bonaparte annexes Tuscany in Italy.
1814 First Treaty of Paris is signed between European countries and France.
1854 Nebraska and Kansas are established as American territories.
1904 Japanese forces occupy Dalmy (Darien) in Russia.
1911 Ray Harroun wins the first long-distance auto race in Indianapolis.
1925 British police kill 13 demonstrators in Shanghai, provoking months of demonstrations and boycott of British goods in China.
1943 American forces secure the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.
1957 Britain relaxes its restrictions on trade with China.
1961 Rafael Trujillo, dictator of Dominican Republic, is assassinated by machine-gun fire while driving.
1966 US launches Surveyor 1 to Moon.
1967 Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser and Jordan’s King Hussain sign a defence treaty.
1975 European Space Agency is formed.
1982 Spain becomes 16th member of NATO.
1989 Student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in Beijing erect a 33-foot statue they call the ‘Goddess of Democracy’.
1991 Car bomb explodes near Civil Guard barracks in Vic, Spain, killing at least nine people and injuring 50.
1992 UN Security Council imposes trade sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro.
1994 Israel releases hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of its autonomy agreement with the PLO.
1998 A powerful earthquake kills about 5000 in northern Afghanistan.
2001 Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is awarded the Great International Cannes Prize in Cannes.
2002 The National Liberation Front, headed by Prime Minister Ali Benflis sweeps Algeria’s legislative elections.
2003 The last Air France Concorde commercial flight for New York is left Paris, an emotional end to a pioneering chapter in aviation.
2006 UAE diplomat Naji Al Nuaimi is released in Iraq after two weeks kidnap.
2007 Ban on smoking in public places in Dubai is enforced.
2008 Zimbabwe’s main opposition group declares itself the country’s new ruling party.
2012 Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for arming and supporting rebels in Sierra Leone.
2014 Bolivia launches the world’s highest cable railway line, carrying passengers from city to city at up to 4,000 metres above sea level.
