DHAKA: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday fled her Dhaka palace in an helicopter that landed in India, reports said, ending her 15-year rule of the country after deadly protests over job quotas killed at least 300 people.
Hasina, 76, had sought since early July to quell nationwide protests against her government, but she fled after a brutal day of unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people died.
Responding to the news, jubilant looking crowds waved flags, peacefully celebrating including some dancing on top of a tank.
At least 56 people were killed during violence in Dhaka as protesters stormed buildings after the prime minister was ousted, a police officer told AFP.
At least 44 of the dead were brought to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, an AFP correspondent said, reporting all had bullet wounds. Police said 11 others were killed elsewhere in the capital, and another in the port city of Chittagong.
It is, however, not clear if the Hasina will stay in Delhi or move to another location. Reports in media outlets of Bangladesh have speculated that Hasina may go to London.
Indian Air Force fighter aircraft were airborne soon after the Bangladeshi C-130 aircraft entered Indian airspace and kept an eye on it for some time.
After Hasina left the country, potesters entered the Ganabhaban, the residence of the Prime Minister and decamped with items from public buildings.
A crowd was also noticed inside the Parliament building and people were seen taking things from it as well.
Protesters also set fire to Sudha Sadan, the private residence of Sheikh Hasina’s family in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
Protesters also vandalized the residence of the Chief Justice. Several people were seen entering the Chief Justice’s residence by climbing over its wall and commotion and vandalism were reported from inside. Along with vandalizing the residence, various items in the residence were taken away, Prothom Alo reported.
Protesters also set fire to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum at 32 Dhanmondi.
The agitators also set fire to the Dhaka district office of Awami League.
Meanwhile, the operations of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport was shut for six hours the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced on Monday.
“We’ve got 20 bodies here,” said Bacchu Mia, a police inspector at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, without giving details of their deaths, although witnesses and other police officers reported mobs launching revenge attacks on rival groups.
Soon after Hasina left Dhaka, country's army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman said he will form an interim government. "We will form an interim government," Waker said in a broadcast to the nation on state television, adding Sheikh Hasina had resigned.
"The country has suffered a lot, the economy has been hit, many people have been killed - it is time to stop the violence," Waker said.
"There is a crisis in the country. I have met Opposition leaders and we have decided to form an interim government to run this country. I take all responsibility and promise to protect your life and property. Your demands will be fulfilled. Please support us and stop violence. If you work with us, we can move towards a proper solution. We cannot achieve anything through violence," he said.
The political turmoil is a setback for the economy, which is reliant on financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and other donors, and earns most of its foreign exchange from exports of garments. Major clothing brands like Hennes & Mauritz AB, Adidas AG, Wal-Mart Inc. and Gap Inc. have operations in the country.
Bangladesh has taken a $10 billion hit to the economy from the curfews and the internet blackouts. The unrest has made it difficult for garment manufacturers to operate, impacting the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Reserves dropped to $21.8 billion in June, Bloomberg reported.
"I hope after my speech, the situation will improve," Waker said.
Thousands of protesters storm Hasina’s palace
Bangladesh’s Channel 24 broadcast images of crowds running into the premier’s official residence in the capital, waving to the camera as they celebrated.
Visuals broadcast on Bangladeshi TV channels showed protesters storming Hasina’s palace, overturning furniture, smashing glass door panels, and carrying off books and other items including a live chicken.
“I am inside the Ganabhaban Palace,” Bangladeshi journalist Yeasir Arafat told AFP. “There are more than 1,500 people inside the palace. They are breaking furniture and glasses”.
The Prothom Alo daily also reported Hasina had fled the capital.
Waker told officers on Saturday that the military “always stood by the people”, according to an official statement.
The military declared an emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government for two years.
‘Uphold the constitution’
Rallies that began last month against civil service job quotas have escalated into some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year rule and shifted into wider calls for the 76-year-old to leave.
Earlier, Hasina’s son urged the country’s security forces to block any takeover from her rule.
“Your duty is to keep our people safe and our country safe and to uphold the constitution,” her son, US-based Sajeeb Wazed Joy, said in a post on Facebook.
“It means don’t allow any unelected government to come in power for one minute, it is your duty.”
“She wanted to record a speech, but she could not get an opportunity to do that,” a source close to Hasina told AFP.
But protesters on Monday defied security forces enforcing a curfew, marching on the capital’s streets after the deadliest day of unrest since demonstrations erupted last month.
Internet access was tightly restricted on Monday, offices were closed and more than 3,500 factories servicing Bangladesh’s economically vital garment industry were shut.
Soldiers and police with armoured vehicles in Dhaka had barricaded routes to Hasina’s office with barbed wire, AFP reporters said, but vast crowds flooded the streets, tearing down barriers.
The Business Standard newspaper estimated as many as 400,000 protesters were on the streets but it was impossible to verify the figure.
“The time has come for the final protest,” said Asif Mahmud, one of the key leaders in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign.
‘Shocking violence’
At least 94 people were killed on Sunday, including 14 police officers.
Protesters and government supporters countrywide battled each other with sticks and knives, and security forces opened fire.
The day’s violence took the total number of people killed since protests began in early July to at least 300, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and doctors at hospitals.
“The shocking violence in Bangladesh must stop,” United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
“This is an unprecedented popular uprising by all measures,” said Ali Riaz, an Illinois State University politics professor and expert on Bangladesh.
“Also, the ferocity of the state actors and regime loyalists is unmatched in history.”
Proesters in Dhaka on Sunday were seen climbing a statue of Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and smashing it with hammers, according to videos on social media verified by AFP.
The political turmoil is a setback for the economy, which is reliant on financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and other donors, and earns most of its foreign exchange from exports of garments. Major clothing brands like Hennes & Mauritz AB, Adidas AG, Wal-Mart Inc. and Gap Inc. have operations in the country.
Bangladesh has taken a $10 billion hit to the economy from the curfews and the internet blackouts. The unrest has made it difficult for garment manufacturers to operate, impacting the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Reserves dropped to $21.8 billion in June, according to Bloomberg.
While Hasina had overseen rapid growth in the economy and helped lift millions out of poverty, those achievements were often overshadowed by what critics contend is her authoritarianism, and accusations she’s used state institutions to stamp out dissent and stifle the media.
