Watch: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, sister leave Dhaka to 'safer place'

Dhaka: Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has left the capital Dhaka in the face of mass protests demanding her resignation, a source close to the embattled leader told AFP on Monday.

"She and her sister have left Ganabhaban (the premier's official residence) for a safer place," the source told AFP. "She wanted to record a speech. But she could not get an opportunity to do that."

Jubilant looking crowds waved flags, peacefully celebrating including some dancing on top of a tank, as a source close to the embattled leader said she had left her palace in the capital for a "safer place".

Hasina's son urged the country's security forces to block any takeover from her rule, while a senior advisor told AFP that her resignation was a "possibility" after being questioned as to whether she would quit.

"She wanted to record a speech, but she could not get an opportunity to do that," the source close to Hasina told AFP.

Bangladesh's army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman will address the nation on Monday afternoon, a military spokesman told AFP without giving further details.

Waker told officers on Saturday that the military "always stood by the people", according to an official statement.

The military declared an emergency in January 2007 after widespread political unrest and installed a military-backed caretaker government for two years.

Rallies that began last month against civil service job quotas have escalated into some of the worst unrest of Hasina's 15-year rule and shifted into wider calls for the 76-year-old to leave. AFP