Anti-government protesters celebrate outside the Bangladesh Parliament after getting the news of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
| Photo Credit: AP
Protests in Bangladesh that began as student-led demonstrations against government hiring rules in July culminated Monday in the Prime Minister fleeing and the military announcing it would form an interim government
At least 300 people were killed in more than a month of deadly protests that ended the autocratic rule of 76-year-old Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Blockades begin
On July 1, university students built barricades blocking roads and railway lines to demand reforms of a quota system for sought-after public sector jobs.
They said the scheme was used to stack the civil service with loyalists of Ms. Hasina’s ruling Awami League.
Ms. Hasina, who won a fifth term as Prime Minister in January after a vote without genuine opposition, says the students are “wasting their time”.
Violence intensifies
On July 16, six persons were killed in clashes, the first recorded deaths in the protests, a day after bitter violence when protesters and pro-government supporters fought in Dhaka with sticks and hurled bricks at each other.
Ms. Hasina’s government orders the nationwide closure of schools and universities.
PM rebuffed
Students rejected an olive branch from Ms. Hasina on July 18, a day after she appealed for calm and vowed that every “murder” in the protests would be punished.
Protesters chanted “down with the dictator” and torched the headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television and dozens of other government buildings.
The government imposes an Internet blackout.
At least 32 people were killed and hundreds wounded in clashes, which continued in the following days despite a round-the-clock curfew and the deployment of soldiers.
Supreme Court verdict
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court, seen by critics as a rubber stamp for the will of Ms. Hasina’s government, ruled on July 21 that the decision to reintroduce job quotas was illegal.
But its verdict fell short of protesters’ demands to entirely abolish reserved jobs for children of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Hasina flees
On Monday, Ms. Hasina fled Dhaka by helicopter as thousands of protesters stormed her palace, with millions on the streets celebrating, some dancing on the roof of armoured cars and tanks.
Her dramatic departure came a day after the deadliest day of protests in which at least 94 people were killed countrywide, many in battles with her supporters.
In several cases, soldiers and police did not intervene to stem the protests, unlike during the past month of rallies.
Bangladesh’s Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Ms. Hasina had resigned and the military would form an interim government.
