Bangladesh PM flees as 300 die in protests

Ousted Hasina wants to seek asylum in UK

- CHRIS HUGHES

BANGLADESH Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has fled the country after weeks of violent protests that have left almost 300 people dead.

Shortly after Hasina, 76, f led yesterday with her sister, her palace in Dhaka was stormed and looted by rioters who had ignored a military curfew to march in the capital.

Asian media reported that Hasina had flown by military helicopter to India, but was heading for the UK to seek asylum. Her sister Rehana was said to have UK citizenship already.

As news spread that Hasina had resigned after 15 years in power, thousands of protesters celebrated in the capital, waving Bangladeshi flags.

On Sunday, 90 people had been killed in a single day as protesters clashed with security officials and the ruling party’s activists across the country.

The unrest began in mid-July when students began to campaign against preferential quotas of government jobs being given to veterans of the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.