How Young People in Bangladesh Forced Out Prime Minister
After 15 years in power, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh on August 5 — chased out by young protesters, who say they are fed up with her increasingly autocratic rule.
Students poured into Bangladesh's streets in June, demanding an end to rules that set aside up to 30% of government jobs for the descendants of veterans who fought the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Protesters said that quota benefitted supporters of Hasina's Awami League, which led that struggle, and together with other quotas meant only 44% of civil service jobs were awarded based on merit.
Civil service jobs are some of the most stable and best paying in a country where the economy has grown rapidly in recent years but not created enough solid, professional jobs for its well-educated middle class.
And many young people are frustrated by the lack of opportunity in Bangladesh.
Eighteen million young people — in a country of 170 million — are not working or in school, according to Chietigj Bajpaee of the Chatham House think tank.
However, in mid-July, Hasina belittled the protestors' demands, and asked if "the grandchildren of Razakars" should be awarded civil service jobs. In Bangladesh, Razakar is an offensive word referring to those who collaborated with Pakistan to put down Bangladesh's independence struggle in 1971.
The student protesters responded by marching on Dhaka University's campus, chanting: "Who are you? Who am I? Razakar. Who said this? The dictator."
The following day, protesters were killed by security forces — and this caused the demonstrations to widen into a broader uprising against Hasina's rule.
Rafij Khan, 24, was on the streets when he heard Hasina had resigned and fled the country.
He said that in the last days of the demonstrations, people from all classes, religions and professions had joined the students on the streets.
"I can't describe the joy that people felt that day," he said.
Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus became Bangladesh's interim leader on August 8 and he, along with a Cabinet that includes two student protest leaders, now have to restore peace, build institutions and prepare the country for fresh elections.
