Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from her post this week, fleeing the country she has led since 2009.
Protesters who accuse Hasina’s government of misusing its power and killing opposition activists stormed her palace in the capital, Dhaka on Monday, leading the 76-year old to flee by helicopter to India, a source close to the leader told Agence France-Presse news agency.
Hasina’s sister, Sheikh Rehana, was also on the flight and the pair are expected to seek asylum abroad.
Army Chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman confirmed Hasina’s departure, telling reporters he would take control at “a critical time for our country” and set up an interim government until elections could be held.
“I am taking responsibility now and we will go to the president and ask to form an interim government to lead the country in the meantime,” he said.
Hasina is the world’s longest-serving female prime minister. Her departure comes after the eruption of student-led protests which government forces have been trying to suppress. The crackdown on protests has led to nearly 300 deaths, including 94 on Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse. Zaman said he would investigate the deaths.
The latest student-led protests were sparked by a quota system that dissidents say disproportionately grant government jobs to the family members of freedom fighters from the 1971 independence war, which saw 3 million people killed and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
Protesters had their demands met last month, after Bangladesh’s supreme court largely met their demands on changing the quota system, but students continued to rally against the government’s harsh response to their protests.
Protesters took to the streets on Monday, even as a curfew was put in place and offices and factories were shut. The army announced that Dhaka airport would be closed for six hours.
The anti-government movement greeted the prime minister’s departure with celebrations on the streets, where night-time raids continued and 11,000 people were arrested. According to media reports, the prime minister’s residence was looted, while her party’s offices were vandalised.
Hasina is the longest-serving leader in the history of Bangladesh, a country of roughly 170 million people. Before taking the reigns as prime minister in 2009, she had led the country between 1996 and 2001.
She is the daughter of the independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the first president of Bangladesh and who was assassinated in 1975 during a military coup.
Members of the opposition including the Bangladeshi Nationalist party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami have accused Hasina of growing increasingly authoritarian and believe her presence at the top is a threat to democracy. Oppositional figures been attacked and arrested, while extrajudicial killings have led journalists to fear reporting on the crimes.