New Delhi:
Protesters lounging on a bed and taking selfies were among the many images, being labeled as being from inside the official residence of Bangladesh’s prime minister, that went viral online after Sheikh Hasina resigned and left her country. However, it turns out that the images are two years old and show a scene from the Sri Lankan president’s palace.
In July 2022, angry protesters seized the official residence of Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the culmination of months of protests against the island nation’s unprecedented economic crisis. Like Hasina, Rajapaksa also fled his country before resigning from his top job.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned today, in a dramatic event amid massive protests against her government, which claimed more than 100 lives in the last two days.
The announcement of his resignation came shortly after hundreds of protesters defied an indefinite military curfew and stormed his official residence – ‘Ganabhaban’ – in the capital Dhaka. She had already fled by then.
Several photos and videos on social media showed protesters vandalizing and looting the building. Many were seen carrying televisions, chairs and tables from what was one of the most protected buildings in the country.
The day witnessed chaotic scenes after supporters of the ruling Awami League took to the streets to quell anti-government protests that defied curfew to gather for the “Long March to Dhaka”.
Some protesters also climbed to the top of a large statue of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father, and began carving his head with an axe, footage showed.
At least 300 people were killed in more than a month of protests that ended Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Bangladesh’s army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, said in a broadcast to the country on state television on Monday that Hasina had resigned and that the military would form an interim government.
She landed at the Hindon Air Force base in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. She is expected to leave for London soon.
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story