BANGKOK (AP) — In Bangladesh, weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs turned into a broad uprising that forced the prime minister to flee the country and resign.
The demonstrations began peacefully weeks ago and were primarily led by students frustrated with the system that they said favored those with connections to the ruling party.
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BANGKOK (AP) — In Bangladesh, weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs turned into a broad uprising that forced the prime minister to flee the country and resign.
FILE - Ohio National Guard soldiers move in on war protesters at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, on May 4, 1970. (AP Photo, File)
FILE- Army tanks prepare to drive through the gates of the student-occupied Polytechnic Institute, in Athens, Nov. 17, 1973. (AP photo/File)
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 1989 file photo about 200,000 people gather in Wenceslas Square, Prague, Czechoslovakia. Dubbed the “Velvet Revolution” for its non-violent nature, the protests led to the resignation of the Communist Party's leadership on November 28. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
FILE -In this photo taken June 11, 2016 church members pray for victims of the June 1976 uprising as they prepare to march to mark the 40th anniversary in Soweto, South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
FILE -Anti-war demonstrators raise their hands toward the White House as they protest the shootings at Kent State University and the U.S. incursion into Cambodia, on the Ellipse in Washington D.C., on May 9, 1970. (AP Photo, File)
FILE -Students stand behind the wreckage of a gate at Athens Polytechnic, that was the center of an uprising in 1973 against the military dictatorship then ruling Greece, Nov. 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)
FILE -A protestor holds a poster designed as a death notification of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the ongoing protest site outside the president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, April 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)
FILE -University students shout slogans during a protest to demand justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes and ask for their campuses to be opened, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar), File)
But it turned violent on July 15 as student protesters clashed with security officials and pro-government activists. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled last week after the unrest during which nearly 300 people died, including both students and police officers.
Students or other young people have frequently played pivotal roles in popular uprisings that have brought down governments or forced them to change policies. Here are some other major cases:
Like in Bangladesh, widespread protests in Sri Lanka in 2022 were able to bring down a government, and youth played a key role.
Scattered demonstrations turned into months-long protests starting in March 2022 as an economic crisis worsened in the Indian Ocean island nation, leading to a shortage of fuel, cooking gas and other essentials as well as an extended power outage.
In April, protesters primarily led by university students and other young people occupied an esplanade adjoining President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in the capital Colombo, demanding he and his government resign.
More people joined daily, setting up a tent camp dubbed “Gota Go Gama,” or “Gota Go Village,” a play on Gotabaya’s nickname “Gota.”
The protest site was peaceful, with organizers offering free food, water, toilets and even medical care for people. Camp leaders, many of whom were university students, held daily media briefings and made regular speeches, while the crowd was entertained by bands and plays.
The government reacted by imposing a curfew, declaring a state of emergency, allowing the military to arrest civilians and restricting access to social media, but were unable to stop the protest.
Under pressure, many ministers resigned but President Rajapaksa and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa remained.
In May, Rajapaksa supporters attacked the protest camp, drawing widespread condemnation from across the country and forcing Prime Minister Rajapaksa to resign.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa clung to power until July, when protesters stormed his official residence, forcing him to flee the country. After taking temporary refuge in the Maldives, Rajapaksa later resigned.
His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in one of his first moves as new president ousted protesters from occupied government buildings and shut down their camp, dismantling their tents in the middle of the night.
The situation has since calmed, and Wickremesinghe has been able to address the shortages of food, fuel and medicine and restore power.
Complaints continue, however, about the rise in taxes and electric bills that are part of the new government’s efforts to meet International Monetary Fund loan conditions. Former Prime Minister Rajapaksa's son Namal Rajapaksa will be running in the presidential elections this September.
In November 1973, students at Athens Polytechnic university rose up against the military junta that ruled Greece with an iron fist for more than six years.
Military officers seized power in a 1967 coup, establishing a dictatorship marked by the arrest, exile and torture of its political opponents.
The regime's brutality and hardline rule gave rise to a growing opposition, particularly among students, culminating in the November uprising.
The protest began peacefully on Nov. 14, with students staging a strike at the Athens Polytechnic university and occupying the campus. By the next day, thousands from around Athens had joined in to support the students and the demonstrations grew, as did calls to end the dictatorship.
On Nov. 17, the military crushed the revolt when a tank smashed through the university's gates in the early hours of the day, killing several students. The number of fatalities is still disputed, but at the time the regime had announced 15 dead.
Days after the uprising, another military officer staged a coup and implemented an even harsher regime. It was short lived however, after a series of events led to a return to democracy in Greece, its birthplace, in 1974.
A prosecutor’s report issued after the return to civilian government, estimated fatalities at 34, but mentioned only 18 names. There were more than 1,100 injured.
Today, annual marches in Athens to commemorate the pro-democracy student uprising still attract thousands of people.
American students had long been protesting the U.S. involvement in Vietnam when President Richard Nixon authorized attacks on neutral Cambodia in April 1970, expanding the conflict in an attempt to interrupt enemy supply lines.
On May 4, hundreds of students at Ohio's Kent State University gathered to protest the bombing of Cambodia, and authorities called in the Ohio National Guard to disperse the crowd.
After failing to break up the protest with teargas, the National Guard advanced and some opened fire on the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others.
The confrontation, sometimes referred to as the May 4 massacre, was a defining moment for a nation sharply divided over the protracted conflict, in which more than 58,000 Americans died.
It sparked a strike of 4 million students across the U.S., temporarily closing some 900 colleges and universities. The events also played a pivotal role, historians argue, in turning public opinion against the conflict in Southeast Asia.
In the decades-long struggle against white minority rule in South Africa, a pivotal moment came in 1976 in the Soweto area of Johannesburg.
In a series of demonstrations starting June 16, Black students from multiple schools took to the streets to protest against being forced to study in Afrikaans, the Dutch-based language of the white rulers who designed the system of racial oppression known as apartheid.
The protests spread to other areas in South Africa, becoming a flashpoint for anger at a system that denied adequate education, the right to vote and other basic rights to the country’s Black majority.
Hundreds are estimated to have died in the government crackdown that followed.
The bloodshed was epitomized by a photograph of a dying student, Hector Pieterson. The image of his limp body being carried by another teenager was seen around the world and galvanized international efforts to end South Africa’s racial segregation, though apartheid would linger for nearly two more decades.
South Africa achieved democracy with majority rule elections in 1994 and today June 16 is a national holiday.
As the Communist governments of Eastern Europe teetered in 1989, widespread demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia after riot police suppressed a student protest in Prague on November 17.
On November 20 as the anti-Communist protests grew, the students being joined by scores of others and some 500,000 took to the streets of Prague.
Dubbed the “Velvet Revolution” for its non-violent nature, the protests led to the resignation of the Communist Party's leadership on November 28.
By Dec. 10, Czechoslovakia had a new government and on Dec. 29, Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who had spent several years in prison, was elected the country’s first democratic president in a half century by a parliament still dominated by communist hard-liners.
In 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
AP journalist Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
FILE- A banner is held aloft above black students in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the township of Soweto where they rallied after the funeral of a 16-year-old black student who died in jail, Oct. 18, 1976. (AP Photo)
FILE - Ohio National Guard soldiers move in on war protesters at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, on May 4, 1970. (AP Photo, File)
FILE- Army tanks prepare to drive through the gates of the student-occupied Polytechnic Institute, in Athens, Nov. 17, 1973. (AP photo/File)
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 1989 file photo about 200,000 people gather in Wenceslas Square, Prague, Czechoslovakia. Dubbed the “Velvet Revolution” for its non-violent nature, the protests led to the resignation of the Communist Party's leadership on November 28. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
FILE -In this photo taken June 11, 2016 church members pray for victims of the June 1976 uprising as they prepare to march to mark the 40th anniversary in Soweto, South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
FILE -Anti-war demonstrators raise their hands toward the White House as they protest the shootings at Kent State University and the U.S. incursion into Cambodia, on the Ellipse in Washington D.C., on May 9, 1970. (AP Photo, File)
FILE -Students stand behind the wreckage of a gate at Athens Polytechnic, that was the center of an uprising in 1973 against the military dictatorship then ruling Greece, Nov. 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)
FILE -A protestor holds a poster designed as a death notification of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the ongoing protest site outside the president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, April 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)
FILE -University students shout slogans during a protest to demand justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes and ask for their campuses to be opened, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar), File)
SINGAPORE (AP) — Pope Francis flew to Singapore on Wednesday for the final leg of his trip through Asia, arriving in one of the world’s richest countries from one of its poorest after a record-setting final Mass in East Timor.
After a brief farewell ceremony, Francis, the Vatican delegation and journalists traveling with him flew to Singapore aboard local carrier Aero Dili's only aircraft, an Airbus A320. It landed about three hours later in Singapore, where Francis had no public events scheduled for the rest of the day.
Francis wrapped up his visit to East Timor with a rally Wednesday morning of its young people, who make up the majority of the 1.3 million population. He urged them to work together to build their young country, using the foundations of older generations who formally secured their independence from Indonesia in 2002, to grow in peace, prosperity and reconciliation.
“Go forward with the happiness of youth, but don’t forget one thing,” Francis told them. “You are the heirs of those who persevered in founding this nation. For this, don’t lose your memory, the memory of those who persevered with so much sacrifice to consolidate this nation.”
The 87-year-old pope, who is on the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate, ditched his prepared remarks to speak off the cuff in his native Spanish, as he often does when he's around young people.
The joyous encounter came just hours after around 600,000 people — or nearly half the population — packed a seaside park for Francis’ Mass. It was held on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed 35 years ago, when East Timor was under brutally oppressive Indonesian rule.
Francis came to East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, to encourage it more than two decades after it secured independence as it struggles with poverty and high unemployment.
In his final remarks at the end of the liturgy, Francis warned the Timorese today to beware of the “crocodiles” who come ashore and “want to change your culture, your history.”
It was an apparent reference both to East Timor’s past, as a colonial possession of first Portugal and then Indonesia, but also its current attractiveness to international commercial interests eager to develop its natural gas reserves.
The oil and gas industry is the bedrock of the Timorese economy and the main source of government revenue. Development of the promising offshore Greater Sunrise gas field, shared between Australia and East Timor, has been stalled for more than two decades — mainly over the question of which country the fuel should be piped to.
Timorese officials believe that piping gas into their country would deliver more benefits for their people despite the added logistical challenges. In an interview last week, President Jose Ramos-Horta said any alternative would have to be “a very persuasive proposal.”
Francis, who is from Argentina and is history’s first Latin American pope, has long railed against multinational companies that exploit poor countries for their natural resources for their own benefit without taking care to adequately compensate the local population or care for the environment.
“And don’t go near those crocodiles because they bite, and bite a lot, a lot,” Francis said Tuesday night, using a term in Spanish that means both “to bite” and to accept bribes.
The huge turnout in East Timor was a testament to the devout Catholic faith of its people and their reverence of the church, which strongly backed the Timorese’ fight for independence. Francis praised the Timorese for having not only built up their country from scratch, but reconciled with Indonesia after securing independence in 2002.
One of the Timorese who campaigned for that independence, Fransisco Dionisio Fernandes, was a 15-year-old acolyte at the Dili Mass celebrated by St. John Paul II on the same field as Francis.
He went on to become one of the most vocal pro-independence activists in East Timor, known locally by his nom de guerre Maukura. But he chose the path of nonviolent resistance rather than joining the guerrillas, preaching a message of reconciliation with Indonesia that Francis underscored during his visit.
“What’s past is past, every nation certainly has its dark history, and we cannot erase history,” Fernandes said in an interview. “East Timor has made a great effort to reconcile the wounds of the past and found a way to pursue a process of genuine reconciliation.”
Fernandes, who became a career diplomat, said the focus was now on the future.
“Now is the time for Timorese to fight for the development and people’s welfare. With the principle of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty, we rebuild together with Indonesia which is destined to be brothers.”
East Timor remains one of the poorest in the world, with around 42% living below the poverty line. It struggles with high levels of unemployment and malnutrition. Nearly two-thirds of the country’s citizens are under 30 years old, making youth job creation a high priority.
From Dili, Francis was flying to Singapore, one of Asia’s economic powerhouses. The city-state’s transformation from a colonial port lacking natural resources into an economic power since its independence from Malaysia in 1965 has long been touted as a success story.
It enjoys one of the highest living standards in the world, and is known for its safety and low crime rate. But it is also one of the most expensive cities to live in and its competitive work environment makes for a stressful, overworked people.
Francis has no official program in Singapore on Wednesday other than a private meeting with his Jesuit confreres.
Niniek Karmini reported from Dili, East Timor. Eileen Ng contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Francis travels in a buggy after he arrived in Singapore, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pope Francis travels in a buggy as he greets the volunteers on his arrival in Singapore, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pope Francis is welcomed by dancing children as he arrives at Singapore Changi International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Pope Francis is heading to Singapore for the final leg of his 11-day trip to Asia and Oceania. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis is welcomed by dancing children as he arrives at Singapore Changi International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Pope Francis is heading to Singapore for the final leg of his 11-day trip to Asia and Oceania. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis greets the volunteers on his arrival in Singapore, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pope Francis travels in a buggy as he greets the volunteers on his arrival in Singapore, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Pope Francis is accompanied by East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta to abroad a plane to Singapore at Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Pope Francis is accompanied by East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta to abroad a plane to Singapore at Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Airport staff wave to Pope Francis at Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Airport staff wave to an airplane which Pope Francis aboard at Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Pope Francis is welcomed by dancing children as he arrives at Singapore Changi International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Pope Francis is heading to Singapore for the final leg of his 11-day trip to Asia and Oceania. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Volunteers wait to greet Pope Francis on his arrival in Singapore, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
People display a East Timor national flag to show it to Pope Francis taking off with his flight from Díli, East Timor and bound to Singapore, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
From left, Pope Francis is welcomed by Singapore's Minister of Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong and his wife (name not given) and the Ambassador of Singapore to the Holy See Ang Janet Guat Har as he arrives at Singapore Changi International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Pope Francis is heading to Singapore for the final leg of his 11-day trip to Asia and Oceania. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis greets before the meeting with young people in Centro de Convencoes in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
Pope Francis is welcomed during the meeting with young people in Centro de Convencoes in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
Pope Francis waves out of the car on the day of the Holy Mass at the Esplanade of Taci Tolu during his apostolic trip to Asia, in Dili, East Timor, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Willy Kurniawan/Pool Photo via AP)
Pope Francis waves from the popemobile as he tours the crowd of faithful at the end of a mass at the seaside park of Tasitolu, 8 kilometers west of Dili, East Timor, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Alessandro Di Meo/pool via AP)
Faithful in traditional dress singing and chanting on the side of the road outside the airport as they prepare to bid farewell to Pope Francis in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Faithful in traditional dress singing and chanting on the side of the road outside the airport as they prepare to bid farewell to Pope Francis in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Faithful in traditional dress singing and chanting on the side of the road outside the airport as they prepare to bid farewell to Pope Francis in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Men and women in traditional dress singing and chanting on the side of the road outside the airport as they prepare to bid farewell to Pope Francis in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Faithful in traditional dress singing and chanting on the side of the road outside the airport as they prepare to bid farewell to Pope Francis in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
People wait for Pope Francis outside the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, ahead of a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
People wait for Pope Francis outside the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, ahead of a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Students singi and chant on the side of the road outside the airport as they prepare to bid farewell to Pope Francis in Dili, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Pope Francis looks at traditional dancers as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis looks at traditional dancers as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis looks at traditional dancers as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis looks at traditional dancers as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis wears an East Timor traditional Tais scarf he received upon his arrival at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor for a meeting with young people, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Tais are usually made for ceremonial use, along with feathers, coral, gold and silver. It has the symbolic meaning of respect towards guests, friends, relatives and ancestors. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis looks at traditional dancers as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at the Centro de Convenções in Díli, East Timor, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, for a meeting with young people. The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis' Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country's population, on Tuesday on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed in 1989 during the nation's fight for independence from Indonesia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
