Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus will lead the interim government in Bangladesh, a demand by leaders of the protest movement after the previous head of government fled.
Yunus has said he will take over the office of refugee Sheikh Hasina amid mass protests, President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s office announced early on Wednesday morning (local time).
The Students Against Discrimination (SAD) movement, which led the anti-government protests, had fielded the economist as the interim head of government. “We trust Dr Yunus,” said Asif Mahmud, a SAD leader. Sheikh Hasina fled the South Asian nation on Monday after 15 years in power.
Banker received the Nobel Prize
Yunus has long been considered a political opponent of former Prime Minister Hasina. He faces more than 100 legal cases, which his supporters criticize as political persecution. The now 84-year-old founded the Grameen Bank in the 1980s, which provides microloans to the poorest people in Bangladesh. The economist was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for this.
At least 109 people were killed in violent protests against Hasina and her government on Monday alone, police and doctors said Tuesday, the bloodiest day since mass protests began in early July. At least 409 people were killed, according to figures obtained by AFP.
The protests grew bigger and bigger
The protesters had originally taken to the streets to protest a quota system for allocating public sector jobs, which they said favoured Hasina supporters. Gradually, the removal of the leader, who had been in power since 2009, became the goal of the protest movement, which increasingly attracted people from all walks of life.
Hasina, 76, was confirmed in January after elections boycotted by much of the opposition. Her government has been accused of abusing state institutions to maintain its own power and suppressing government critics – including the extrajudicial killing of opposition figures. In recent weeks, millions have taken to the streets to demand her resignation.
Source: Krone
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