This happened 30 minutes ago and details may change rapidly over the next few hours. See the link above. I’m not in Bangladesh. I hear that people in the country are relieved, and cautiously optimistic.
Key points:
- PM has resigned
- local media reports she fled the country
- protestors stormed her compound
- interim government is being created
Statement by Chief of Army Staff
- representatives from all major parties were present in discussions for interim government
- army will begin investigations on all deaths and crimes during the protest. This should include the extrajudicial killings
Concerns
- fear of violence against the supporters of the ruling party
Also worth pasting Al Jazeera’s timeline of events before it gets pushed way too down via updates:
Timeline: How the unrest began
• Students began protesting last month when a controversial government job quota system that favoured children of war veterans was reinstated by the High Court.
• The government responded by shutting down universities and using the police and military to crack down on protesters.
• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina imposed a nationwide curfew and cut off access to phones and the internet.
• Some 200 people, mostly students, were killed. Thousands were arrested.
• On July 21, Bangladesh’s top court stepped in, ruling that the quotas should be scaled back from 30 percent to 5 percent, with 3 percent for relatives of veterans.
• Last week, demonstrations resumed with protesters issuing new demands, including bringing justice and accountability for those killed and for Hasina to step down.
• The prime minister had pledged a strong response, calling the demonstrators criminals and saboteurs.
Al Jazeera - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Al Jazeera:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - Qatar
Wikipedia about this source
