Bangladesh PM Hasina resigns, army chief says will 'form an interim government'

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00:00In Bangladesh, the army chief says the prime minister has resigned.

00:04That comes as anti-government protesters were gearing up for a march on the capital, Dhaka,

00:09this Monday.

00:10They're now reportedly storming the presidential palace.

00:13This also comes one day after the deadliest day of unrest since those demonstrations first

00:17broke out last month.

00:19On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protesters and government supporters across the country

00:23fought each other with sticks and knives as security forces opened fire with rifles.

00:28Nearly a hundred people were killed.

00:31We're going to get the very latest now with our regional correspondent Navadita Kumari

00:34who joins me from New Delhi.

00:36The prime minister has resigned, we're hearing from the army chief.

00:40What more can you tell us about that?

00:43Yes, in a dramatic turn of events in the last hour, protesters stormed the residence of

00:50Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was just moments ago evacuated to a safer location.

00:57Now the army chief has confirmed that she has resigned and that they will bring peace

01:04to the country and in meanwhile there will be an interim government formed.

01:09The local news also say that Sheikh Hasina might have been brought to India and from

01:15here whether she's headed to some other destination, it is unclear for the moment.

01:21So we were waiting for army chief's address since hours now.

01:27So now in a big turn of events, Sheikh Hasina has resigned.

01:33The main demand from the protesters for weeks now.

01:36Indeed, and those weeks all came to a head on Sunday when close to a hundred people were

01:41killed in violence there.

01:46Exactly.

01:47Even today, even if it was relatively calmer, at least six people have been killed and Sunday

01:53at least a hundred people were killed and a thousand were injured.

01:58So this comes as for the last month, protesters have been coming to the street, protesting,

02:05asking for justice and also for their country to return to normalcy.

02:09They say that they have been suffering economic hardship.

02:13The country of 170 people, the youth of the country say that they have been, they have

02:19been struggling to find jobs and social activists claim that democratic rights of the citizens

02:25have been, have been shrunk here and there was no free and fair election in January.

02:33And Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been ruling the country since the last 15 years

02:38and the country, according to the activists and demonstrations, has deteriorated in terms

02:44of democratic rights and economic prosperity.

02:47Navadita, thank you for that.

02:49That's our regional correspondent, Navadita Kumari.

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