Bangladesh army announces interim govt after PM Hasina flees

Bangladesh army announces interim govt after PM Hasina flees

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country following weeks of deadly demonstrations against her government.

The removal of Hasina on Monday followed weeks of deadly protests and appears to have averted the threat of further bloodshed. The focus now moves to who will control the South Asian country.

In an address to the nation, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that an interim government will now run Bangladesh and called for calm.

Hasina, who ruled the country for close to two decades, boarded a military helicopter on Monday, an aide told Al Jazeera, as huge crowds ignored a national curfew to storm her palace in Dhaka.

Media reports in India say an aircraft carrying Hasina landed at Hindon Air Base near New Delhi. She was on board a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft which landed at the base in Ghaziabad, India Today news channel reported.

Her resignation came after nearly 300 people died in weeks of protest that the authorities sought to crush. A night of deadly violence on Sunday killed close to 100 and a curfew was called.

On Monday, huge crowds stormed the prime minister’s palace, preventing Hasina from delivering a speech.

At least 20 more people were killed during violence in Dhaka as protesters stormed buildings, a police officer told the AFP news agency.

“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.

Despite the violence, by early afternoon, the mood on the streets had turned to one of celebration after the news of the premier’s departure spread.

Jubilant crowds waved flags, some dancing on top of a tank in the streets, before thousands broke through the gates of Hasina’s official residence.

Wary

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Shahbagh Square – the epicentre of the student protests that began last month – said he has “never witnessed something like this” in the capital.

“Everybody is celebrating, not just students – people from all walks of life. They said this had to happen, there was nothing we could say, democracy was squeezed and now we are free,” Chowdhury said.

The message from the protesters is that whoever comes to power next “will now know that they won’t tolerate any kind of dictatorship or mismanagement and that the students will decide”, he added.

Bangladesh suffered many years of military rule in the 1970s and 80s following the war that secured its independence from Pakistan in 1971, and many are wary of the danger of a return.

Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman was eager to try to reassure the country. He urged citizens to keep trust in the army, which, he said, would return peace to the country.

“We will also ensure that justice is served for every death and crime that occurred during the protests,” he said, calling on the public to exercise patience and cease any acts of violence and vandalism.

“We have invited representatives from all major political parties, and they have accepted our invitation and committed to collaborating with us,” the general added.