Students who ousted Hasina are helping lead Bangladesh, from the streets to the ministries

Nahid Islam (left) talks to Asif Mahmud, both student protest leaders and now ministers in Bangladesh's interim government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug 11, 2024. – AP

DHAKA: Within a week of unseating Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, the students who drove out Sheikh Hasina were directing Dhaka’s traffic.

Decked out in neon vests, their university IDs slung around their necks, they clutch sticks and umbrellas to wave cars this way and that, filling the void after police went on strike. They stopped drivers, checking their licenses and telling them off for not wearing their seatbelts.