Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina Resigns Amidst Protest

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Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced her resignation as thousands of protesters stormed her official residence, demanding she step down.
Ms Hasina, 76, had already left the country to a “safer place”, one of her advisers said earlier.
The resignation came a day after at least 90 people were killed and hundreds injured in a new round of anti-government protests.
The unrest in Dhaka and elsewhere began with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs but turned into a wider anti-government movement.

Entrances to Dhaka were blocked on Monday, with army units and police deployed across the city.
The internet was also completely shut down before being restored a few hours later.
The government had also announced a three-day “holiday” – widely interpreted as a curfew – which closed down businesses and the courts.
However, this did not stop tens of thousands of people from converging on the city, heeding a call by protest leaders to start a “long march to Dhaka”. Anger was high following the deaths – mostly of protesters – on Sunday.
Both police and some supporters of the governing party were seen shooting at anti-government protesters with live ammunition. Police also used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Thirteen police officers were also killed on Sunday when thousands of people attacked a police station in the district of Sirajganj, police said. Two more police died of their injuries on Monday, and there were reports of several more protesters being killed.
The total death toll from weeks of unrest now stands at some 300, most of them protesters shot by security forces.
Mobile operators received orders from the government to shut off their 4G services on Monday, reports said.
The country is “again in the midst of a near-total national internet shutdown after earlier social media and mobile cuts”, said NetBlocks, a watchdog that monitors internet freedom.
On 18 July, the Bangladeshi government had also switched off the country’s mobile internet in an attempt to quell the protests. Broadband connectivity was restored a week later, while mobile internet services came back online days after.
But neither the internet blackout nor an indefinite nationwide curfew imposed on Sunday have hindered the protesters across Bangladesh.
On Monday, thousands of protesters started marching in Uttara, a suburb of Dhaka, chanting and demanding Ms Hasina’s resignation – under the watchful eye of army personnel and police officers who have been stationed across various points in the capital.
Amid calls for her resignation, Ms Hasina initially sounded defiant. Speaking after a meeting with security chiefs on Monday, she said the protesters were “not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation”.

BBC

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