Kathmandu: Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina departed from Bangabhaban at around 2:30pm on Monday on a military helicopter, accompanied by her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana for a “safer place”, reported Dhaka Tribune.
Meanwhile, according to sources, they were heading to West Bengal, India.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana had reached a safe location.
Sheikh Hasina intended to record a speech before her departure but did not get the opportunity to do so.
Bangladeshi security forces patrolled the capital on Monday as protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation said they would take to Dhaka’s streets again following the deadliest day of unrest since demonstrations erupted last month.
Analysts fear violence could surpass that seen on Sunday, when hundreds of thousands of protesters and government supporters countrywide battled each other with sticks and knives, and security forces opened fire with rifles.
Soldiers and police in Dhaka barricaded routes to Hasina’s office with barbed wire in a bid to enforce a curfew that came into effect Sunday evening, AFP reporters said.
Mobile internet was tightly restricted countrywide, offices were closed and the country’s more than 3,500 economically vital garment factories were shut.
Rallies that began last month against civil service job quotas have escalated into some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year rule and shifted into wider calls for the 76-year-old to quit.
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