B'desh PM Hasina leaves for 'safer place' amid massive protests

Dhaka, Aug 5 : As violence gripped Bangladesh amid ongoing student protests, several reports indicated on Monday that Sheikh Hasina has resigned as the country's Prime Minister and left the country in a military helicopter.

Bangladeshi media reported that PM Hasina left for a "safer place" after hundreds of protestors stormed Gonobhaban -- the official residence of the Prime Minister in Dhaka.

In a televised address to the nation, Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman urged the countrymen to remain patient and maintain peace.

Around 100 people were killed and over 1,000 injured in the clashes that took place between the police and protesters on Sunday.

"With yesterday's count, the total death toll in anti-government protests crossed 300 in just three weeks, making it the bloodiest period in the history of Bangladesh's civil movement," reported 'The Daily Star'.

The student-led non-cooperation movement put immense pressure on the government led by Prime Minister Hasina over the past many weeks.

The students had been protesting against a 30 per cent reservation in government jobs for relatives of freedom fighters who wrested independence for Bangladesh from Pakistan in a bloody civil war in 1971 in which, according to Dhaka officials, 3 million people were killed in the genocide by Pakistani troops and their supporters.

After the Supreme Court slashed the reservations to 5 per cent, student leaders put the protests on hold but the demonstrations flared up because the students said the government ignored their call to release all their leaders, making the resignation of PM Hasina their primary demand.