Dhaka
\nBangladesh\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country, the army chief has said, following weeks of deadly demonstrations.
\nIn an address to the nation on Monday, General Waker-Uz-Zaman said that an interim government will now run the country.
\nHasina, who had ruled the country for two decades, boarded a military helicopter, an aide told Al Jazeera, after crowds ignored a national curfew to storm her palace in Dhaka.
\nThe resignation comes after 300 people have died amid weeks of protest the authorities have sought to crush. Following a night of deadly violence that killed close to 100 on Sunday, tension had remained high on Monday as protesters called for a march on Dhaka and the army prepared to address the nation.
\nBy early afternoon, however, media reported that the mood on the streets had turned to one of celebration after the news of Hasina\u2019s departure spread.
\nThe army chief urged citizens to keep trust in the army, which, he said, would return peace to the country.
\n\u201cWe will also ensure that justice is served for every death and crime that occurred during the protests,\u201d he said, calling on the public to exercise patience and cease any acts of violence and vandalism.
\n\u201cWe have invited representatives from all major political parties, and they have accepted our invitation and committed to collaborating with us,\u201d the general added.
\nImages on national television showed thousands of people breaking into the prime minister\u2019s official residence. It also showed large crowds of protesters out in the street in scenes of jubilation as the news of the departure of Hasina started spreading.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Shahbag Square \u2013 the epicentre of the student protesters \u2013 said he has \u201cnever witnessed something like this\u201d in the capital.
\n\u201cEverybody is celebrating, not just students \u2013 people from all walks of life. They said this had to happened, there was nothing we could say, democracy was squeezed and now we are free,\u201d Chowdhury said. The message from the protesters is that whoever comes to power next \u201cwill now know that they won\u2019t tolerate any kind of dictatorship or mismanagement and that the students will decide,\u201d he said.
\nProtests in the country started a month ago over a controversial job quota scheme which reserved a third of government jobs for children of war veterans of the country\u2019s 1971 independence war with Pakistan.
\nThe government responded by shutting down universities and using the police and military to crack down on protesters. Hasina imposed a nationwide curfew and cut off access to phones and the internet. The protests continued, and the country\u2019s top court ruled that the highly contested quotas should be scaled back from 30 percent to 5 percent, with 3 percent for relatives of veterans.
\nIt came to no avail. The demonstration movement had morphed into an unprecedented and nationwide uprising demanding the resignation of Hasina and accountability for those killed.
\nNow that she is gone and the army has promised an interim government, the military has a \u201cvery tough job ahead,\u201d said Irene Khan, a UN special rapporteur.
\n\u201cWe are all hoping that the transition would be peaceful and that there will be accountability for all the human rights violations that have taken place recently including the killing of about 300 people in the last three weeks,\u201d Khan told Al Jazeera.
\n\u201cBangladesh has, of course, an enormous task ahead. It is not the poster child of sustainable development anymore. The previous government had driven this country into despair, and there would be a lot of hard work to do to build it up but most of all I think its extremely important that the army respect human rights\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka Bangladesh\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country, the army chief has said, following weeks of deadly demonstrations. In an address to the nation on Monday, General Waker-Uz-Zaman said that an interim government will now run the country. Hasina, who had ruled the country for two decades, boarded a military helicopter, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-423039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n