Listen to Story When kingdoms fall, the palace gates are swung wide open. And when rulers flee, protesters enter the palaces with all their might. In Dhaka, protesters did exactly that.
They entered Ganabhaban, the PM's residence, after Sheikh Hasina tendered her resignation and left the nation as a sea of protesters marched towards Ganabhaban. Bangladesh is not the only nation where commoners stormed the leader's residence as the regime fell. This was also seen when kingdoms fell in Sri Lanka, Iraq and in Afghanistan.
On Monday, protesters stormed Hasina's residence to assert their victory. In a video, which has gone viral on social media, a man is seen lying on a bed at the PM's house. He is reclined on the bed and is seen talking to people.
He says, "Gonobhobon is under our control". In another video, people are seen looting television sets, chairs and tables from the PM's house. Even kitchens and refrigerators were ransacked as people feasted on fish and biryani.
The clip of a man with a huge fish on the Ganabhaban campus also went viral. Others took her saree and a Dior suitcase. Hasina was fond of sarees and had a good saree collection.
One of the worst scenes was of a ransacker posing with female lingerie retrieved from Ganabhaban. Bangladesh is one of the countries in the last five years to see such loot. This was seen in some other places too, where the ruler had been deposed.
It could be the result of people's assertion and a show of symbolic capture after a period of authoritarian rule. For most, it is a free-for-all celebration after a strong leader has been deposed. In 2022, protestors stormed open the gates of the presidential residence after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka amid protests.
Protestors entered the palace, which had a large dinner table, a lounge filled with sofas and a private swimming pool, according to NPR. A video also showed a man on a bed at the President's palace with a Presidential flag, reported BBC. Clips of men jumping on the Presidential bed also went viral.
Next was, protestors taking a dip in the pool. They also entered the bedroom and the office. People also rummaged through the President's personal belongings.
In Sri Lanka, one of the most shared pictures on social media is of the three boys scrolling their phones. Young boys scrolling their phones is nothing out of the ordinary, except it is at the President's residence. The room had wide windows, a wooden bed with beautiful carvings and carpets around it and the boys were seen scrolling their phones on the bed.
In 2022, the same year people ransacked Rajapaksha's palace, protesters were seen storming the presidential palace in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, after the announcement by Iraq's influential Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to quit politics. They were also soon relaxing in the pool, reported Reuters. This took place after deadly clashes between the security forces and the angry crowd.
The unrest caused many deaths and left hundreds with injuries and was an outcome of prolonged protests for new elections and parliamentary dissolution. In 2021, the Taliban entered Afghanistan's President's palace in Kabul. In a video, armed men were seen in the halls of the palace as they sat on the chair of President Ashraf Ghani, who had left the country, reported NBC.
They were seen taking a walk inside the palace and giving tours to Al Jazeera journalists, reported NBC. Here, the Taliban did not storm the palace. It was a handshake with the Presidential Protection Service, which had protected it for two decades.
The government official had escorted the Taliban commander into the palace. They even took a selfie together. However, occupying the chair and strolling around the palace aimlessly was to symbolise the capture of power.
This is how when regimes fall, the palaces become an amusement park for the common people, who are taken by the riches and the lavish lifestyle of their former rulers. Dhaka's Ganabhaban saw on Monday what was witnessed by palaces in Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan..
