https://arab.news/v99u6
- Thousands of protesters defy military curfew to storm Hasina’s official residence in Dhaka
- Government’s attempts to quell protests that began late June claimed over 300 lives
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday, ending 15 years in power as thousands of protesters defied a military curfew and stormed her official residence.
The news was confirmed by officials from the military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who requested anonymity they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Thousands appeared to have entered Hasina’s official residence in Dhaka on Monday, following weeks of violent demonstrations and clashes with security forces.
Bangladesh’s military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman is expected to address the nation later today.
The protests began peacefully in late June, as students sought an end to a quota system for government jobs, but turned violent after clashes between protesters and police and pro-government activists at Dhaka University.
The government’s attempts to quell the demonstrations with force, curfews and Internet shutdowns backfired, prompting further outrage as nearly 300 people were killed and leading to demands for an end to her 15 years in power.
On Sunday, nearly 100 people were killed as the protesters clashed with security officials and the ruling party activists across the country.
The protests began peacefully as frustrated students demanded an end to a quota system for government jobs, but the demonstrations have since morphed into an unprecedented challenge and uprising against Hasina and her ruling Awami League party.
On Monday, after three hours of suspension of broadband services, both broadband and mobile Internet returned.
The military-imposed curfew went into effect Sunday night and covered Dhaka and other divisional and district headquarters. The government had earlier imposed a curfew with some exceptions in the capital and elsewhere.
The government also announced a holiday from Monday to Wednesday. Courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile Internet service was cut off, and Facebook and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were inaccessible on Monday.
Bangladesh has previously shut down Internet services in areas affected by protests, using it as a measure to suppress dissent by opposition parties.
Internet watchdog Access Now said it recorded three shutdowns in the country in 2023, all of which overlapped with opposition rallies and were limited in scope to one city or district. That came after six shutdowns in 2022.
Hasina, 76, was elected for a fourth consecutive term in a January vote that was boycotted by her main opponents, triggering questions over how free and fair the vote was. Thousands of opposition members were jailed in the lead-up to the polls, which the government defended as democratically held.
Her political opponents have previously accused her of growing increasingly autocratic and called her a threat to the country’s democracy, and many now say the unrest is a result of her authoritarian streak and hunger for control at all costs.
At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest has also resulted in the closure of schools and universities across the country, and authorities at one point imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew.
Over the weekend, protesters called for a “non-cooperation” effort, urging people not to pay taxes or utility bills and not to show up for work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh.
Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced challenges getting to their jobs.
The protests began last month as students demanded an end to a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
As the violence crested, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the veterans’ quota must be cut to 5 percent, with 93 percent of jobs to be allocated on merit. The remaining 2 percent will be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The government accepted the decision, but protesters have continued demanding accountability for the violence they blame on the government’s use of force.
Hasina’s administration blamed the opposition parties and their student wings for instigating the violence in which several state-owned establishments were also torched or vandalized.