How Bangladesh’s protests ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year

0:52Shots heard and objects thrown at deadly anti-government protests in Bangladesh

“One, two, three, four, Sheikh Hasina is a dictator!”

The words had become a rallying cry for young Bangladeshis in recent weeks – and on Monday their fury ended the prime minister’s 15-year reign.

The 76-year-old Ms Hasina had ruled the South Asian nation of 170 million with an iron fist since 2009 – just a month ago, protests demanding her resignation would have been unthinkable.

But by Monday morning, she was stuck in a deadly stalemate. It had been several days since the top court scrapped the job quotas that originally sparked the protests in early July. But the agitation continued, morphing into an anti-government movement that wanted her out of power.

What finally tipped the scales was the ferocity of the clashes between the protesters and police on Sunday. Nearly 300 people are estimated have died in the violence so far but Sunday alone saw at least 90 people, including 13 police officers, killed – the worst single day of casualties incurred during protests in Bangladesh’s recent history.

Critics called it “carnage”, even as Ms Hasina stood her ground.

Bangladesh PM resigns and flees country: Follow live

And yet, tens of thousands took to the streets on Monday, many of them marching towards the capital Dhaka, in defiance of a nationwide curfew.

Bangladeshis, it appeared, no longer feared bullets. What had been a political movement was now a mass uprising.

Ms Hasina’s decision to flee was also hastened by the military, which would have put pressure on her to step down. The army, which has ruled Bangladesh in the past and is still hugely respected, has an outsized influence over the country’s politics.

The violence from the weekend as well as the prospect of facing fresh rounds of massive protests would have made the military establishment re-think its options.

Junior officers had already raised concerns about being asked to fire on civilians in a meeting with the military chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, on Friday.

What lies ahead is less clear but Gen Zaman is in talks with “various stakeholders”, including opposition parties and civil society groups to find an “interim” solution, a high-level source familiar with TYT