How Bangladesh student protests ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Student-led protests in Bangladesh against government hiring rules culminate in Prime Minister fleeing and military forming interim government.

Protests in Bangladesh that began as student-led demonstrations against government hiring rules in July culminated Monday in the Prime Minister fleeing and the military announcing it would form an interim government

At least 300 people were killed in more than a month of deadly protests that ended the autocratic rule of 76-year-old Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

On July 1, university students built barricades blocking roads and railway lines to demand reforms of a quota system for sought-after public sector jobs.

They said the scheme was used to stack the civil service with loyalists of Ms. Hasina's ruling Awami League.

Ms. Hasina, who won a fifth term as Prime Minister in January after a vote without genuine opposition, says the students are "wasting their time".

On July 16, six persons were killed in clashes, the first recorded deaths in the protests, a day after bitter violence when protesters and pro-government supporters fought in Dhaka with sticks and hurled bricks at each other.

Ms. Hasina's government orders the nationwide closure of schools and universities.