Social media platforms on Monday were flooded by posts showing protestors in Bangladesh storm the parliament building and the prime minister’s official residence, reflecting jubilation among some groups in the country.
This came after the country’s Army chief announced that Sheikh Hasina had resigned as the prime minister and fled the country amid widespread anti-government protests. Hasina left the country along with her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana. It was not immediately clear where they were headed.
General Waker-uz-Zaman, the Bangladesh Army chief, also announced that an interim government will be formed.
The student-led protests against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs, which started in July, evolved into a broader agitation against her administration. The protestors were demanding Hasina’s resignation.
At least 93 persons were killed and over 1,000 injured in different parts of the country on Sunday, reported The Daily Star. With this, the toll in the anti-government agitation since July crossed 300.
Hasina, who had been ruling Bangladesh since 2009 and secured her fourth consecutive term in January’s elections, has faced sharp criticism for her government’s heavy-handed response, with reports of extrajudicial killings and mass detentions.
Some social media posts showed protestors enter the Ganabhaban, the prime minister’s residence in Dhaka.
The visuals were similar to protestors in Sri Lanka breaking into the residence of the island nation’s president in July 2022.
There were several posts showing thousands of persons on the streets of Dhaka after Hasina fled the country.
Some social media users, including from other countries, shared a video from a local TV channel that purportedly showed a protestor vandalising the statue of Hasina’s father and former President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Rahman is recognised as the Father of the Nation in Bangladesh.
Videos also surfaced online showing protestors inside the chamber of the country’s parliament, Jatiya Sangsad.
Also read:
‘Fear of Hasina gone’: How the student agitation has shaken up Bangladesh’s authoritarianism
Bangladesh student-led protests morph into a mass uprising to unseat an ‘autocratic government’
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