* Nearly 300 killed in clashes over government job quota system
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and left the country, media reports said today according to Reuters, as more people were killed in some of the worst violence since the birth of the South Asian nation more than five decades ago.
The army is said to be in talks to form an interim government and has asked for calm as this is carried out. It said it will investigate the recent deaths during anti-government protests which ripped through the country.
At least 98 people were killed and hundreds injured in Bangladesh yesterday as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who were demanding Hasina’s resignation.
Protests began last month over a controversial quota system, which reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for family members of veterans from Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan. Activists said the policy is discriminatory and favours supporters of Hasina’s Awami League Party.
It's a victory over the tyranny of dictatorship . Students of Bangladesh have shown the whole world what students are capable of.
Salute to the brave Students of Bangladesh..🇧🇩#BangladeshProtests #BangladeshArmy #BangladeshBleeding #SheikhHasina #Bangladeshstudentprotest pic.twitter.com/J3uB1haesb
— salwa (30**💙💙❀ ذاتَ الخِمار(وَنَرَاهُ قَرِيبًا (@salwa201188) August 5, 2024
Some 300 protesters have been killed since the civil action began last month.
Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth term in January, in an election which was boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
