Bangladeshis in Vancouver react to PM's downfall after protests

Hope and excitement spread quickly among members of Vancouver's Bangladeshi community on Monday as news broke that the South Asian country's prime minister had resigned amid a mass uprising against her ruleled mostly by students.

"We are celebrating our blood-shedded second independence of Bangladesh," said Abdullah-Al Talha, 31, who moved to Canada from his home country in 2006.

Members of the Bangladeshi diaspora took to Vancouver's streets, elated to see the nation's government topple after weeks of turmoil.

The news sparked an impromptu gatheringMonday evening, organized by the Bangladesh Student Association Vancouveroutside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

"I am literally getting goosebumps," added Talha, who attended the event clad in red and green, his home country's colours.

Prime ministerSheikhHasina, who led Bangladesh for 15 years, faced increasing criticism after weeks of deadly unrest made her long-running "autocratic" leadership untenable, according to Parboti Roy, a sessional lecturer withthe University of B.C.'sdepartment of Asian studies.

"During [the government's] regime, they infringed on people's freedom of expression, and there was corruption," Roy told CBC News. "People were struggling with their everyday lives."

Last month, many frustrated students began to peacefully protest to end the quota system on government jobs, which they said mostly favoured families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971.

Rumi Khan, an American analyst and columnist on Bangladeshi politics, told CBC the quotas were discriminatory.

"Bangladesh has serious issues of joblessness. There are hundreds of thousands to millions of students who have no job after graduation," said Khan, who is also a professor of medicine at the University of Texas, Austin.

Attempts to quell the demonstrations with force left hundreds injured and dead, which Khan says fuelled outrage against the government.

"The government tried to crack down on it, they overreacted, and they started killing students."

For the Bangladeshi community in Vancouver, the violent clashes made them fear for their families back home as they watched the situation play out from afar.

"It felt horrible, and it was very hard," said Khairul Hassan, a member of the Bangladesh Student AssociationVancouver.

Government-imposed communication outages made it even more difficult to stay in touch.

"Later, people used VPNs to say they were safe or not safe," Hassan added.

Community hopeful for the future

Now, Bangladesh's Nobel Peace Prizelaureate Muhammad Yunus will head the country's interim government after student leaders proposed he step up.

The announcement on Tuesday came from Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who spoke to The Associated Press over the phone.

Roy views the move as an exciting time for the nation.

"[Yunus] is one of Bangladesh's greatest leaders," she said. "He has made a huge contribution to the micro-credit sector in Bangladesh."

It's a sentiment echoed by members of the Bangladesh Student Association Vancouver.

"We want Dr. Muhammad Yunus to take over," said Omar Faruk, a long-time member of the association. "He is our international hero."

For Talha, a change in the government for the first time in 15 years means renewed hope for freedom and peace.

"I am beginning to at least have a feeling and the hope that we will have independence and a government without any corruption," he said.