DHAKA: Amid public unrest that brought country on the boil, a mob of protesters vandalised the statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s independence leader and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s father, in Dhaka.
Since late July, Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence that has so far claimed the lives of at least 300 people, according to an AFP tally based on police, government officials and doctors at hospitals.
Protesting student groups have demanded the scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs, which escalated into a campaign to seek the ouster of Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.
The tensions escalated further on Monday, prompting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and leave the country. Hasina Wajid fled to India on a military helicopter, according to media reports.
READ: Bangladesh PM Hasina ‘resigns’; army chief announces coalition govt
The country army chief later addressed the nation and vowed to establish peace in the country. He announced that an interim government would be intalled and that talks in this regard were under way.
Amid the protests, the statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was vandalised by protestors in Dhaka.
In the videos – circulating on social media, protestors can be seen climbing the statue and damaging its arms with hammers. A large crowd can be seen gathered around the monument, shouting chants as fragments of it fall to the ground.
