Bangladeshi PM Resigns After Bloody Riots, Leaves The Country By Helicopter

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina/PHOTO via Wikimedia Commons/DelwarHossain

JAKARTA - Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country. The resignation follows the latest clashes against anti-Hasina that killed dozens of people.

Reported by Reuters on Monday, August 5, Army Commander General Waker-Us-Zaman said in a televised address, Hasina 76 had left the country and a provisional government would be formed.

Media reports said Hasina flew in a military helicopter with her sister and headed to the state of West Bengal in eastern India, just across the border.

Another report said he was heading to the Tripura state in northeastern India.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Television footage showed thousands of people taking to the streets in the capital Dhaka with joy and chanting slogans.

Thousands of people also stormed Hasina's official 'Ganabhaban' residence, shouting slogans, brandishing boxing and showing signs of victory.

Television footage showed a crowd of people in the living living room, and several people were seen carrying television, chairs, and tables from one of the country's most protected buildings.

"He has left this country, left this country," shouted several people.

Protesters in Dhaka also rose to the top of the great statue of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina's father, and began carving his head with an ax, according to visual images.

Student activists previously called for a demonstration to the capital Dhaka on Monday in violation of national curfews to pressure Hasina to resign, a day after deadly clashes across the country that killed nearly 100 people. About 150 people died in protests last month.

On Monday, it was reported that six people were killed in clashes between police and protesters in the Jatrabari and Dhaka Medical College areas on Monday, the Daily Star newspaper reported.

Bangladesh was hit by protests and violence that began last month after a group of students demanded the removal of a controversial quota system in government work.

This has escalated into a campaign to overthrow Hasina, who won her fourth consecutive term in January in elections boycotted by the opposition.