On the afternoon of August 5th, televisions in Bangladesh broadcast images of a helicopter rising from the residence of Sheikh Hasina, the country’s prime minister until minutes before. The chopper was carrying her and her sister “to safety”. Shortly afterwards images appeared of gleeful protesters entering the prime minister’s residence, lounging in her bed and making off with pets and furniture. Others were filmed dancing in the streets of Dhaka. In an address to the nation, General Waker-uz-Zaman, the army chief, confirmed that Sheikh Hasina had resigned and said he would form an interim government. One of the world’s wiliest autocrats, and its longest-serving female head of government, she had been summarily dispatched by angry citizens. “She is a blood-sucker, a monster for us, for the young people,” said a protester. “She destroyed Bangladesh.”

Started from students, then a mass of citizens, who eventually pushed back and managed to actually kick her out.

  • Drusas@kbin.run
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    2 months ago

    It’s bizarre to me that the country doesn’t have a line of succession for the next person to automatically assume the vacant position.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Apparently they’re supposed to have a deputy, but the position has been vacant since 1990, when the current government system was established.

      Usually, parliamentary systems will elect a temporary caretaker, but I guess Bangladesh isn’t stable enough for that. Seems they often end up with the military temporarily in control.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      Dictators often make sure they have no successor, because that makes them harder to depose and replace. Take Putin, for example. Few other Russian elites have anything to gain by staying in Ukraine, but they’d still prefer a draining war there to a civil war at home. So, he does things like make Medvedev post about how much he wants a nuclear exchange, and he stays relatively coup-proof due to lack of any alternative with staying power.