Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina quit her position following weeks of violence.
Following the recent upsurge in violence between demonstrators and supporters of the Awami League in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has tendered her resignation. According to media reports, she left the country on Monday as more people were killed in some of the worst acts of violence since the South Asian nation’s founding more than 50 years ago.
In the midst of increasingly violent demonstrations calling for her resignation on Monday, August 5, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka and made her way to a safe location, according to officials. According to local media, the protesters stormed the prime minister’s palace.
The fighting started on Sunday morning when activists from the ruling Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League confronted demonstrators participating in the non-cooperation program under the banner of Students Against Discrimination. Their demand was for Hasina to resign due to a job quota system.
Leading Bengali-language newspaper Prothom Alo reported that at least 101 people—including 14 police officers—were killed in clashes on Sunday. Authorities were forced by the violence to impose a nationwide curfew for an indefinite period of time and turn off mobile internet.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that at least six people lost their lives in fighting between police and demonstrators in the Jatrabari and Dhaka Medical College neighborhoods.
The police had to use tear gas shells to disperse a group of students from different educational institutions who had gathered at Dhaka Central Shaheed Minar before and after 10 am to take part in the ‘March to Dhaka’ program.
