The 1946 La Paz riots were a series of increasingly violent strikes and protests which culminated in the lynching and hanging of then president Gualberto Villarroel and the complete collapse of his government. The riots occurred in the Bolivian capital of La Paz between 8 and 21 July 1946. What started as teachers' strikes demanding increased wages quickly escalated as university students, organized labor workers, and civilians clashed with municipal police and armed, pro-government civilians. By the end, interim control of the country was handed to a junta of representatives of the three striking groups chaired by independent magistrates of the Superior Court of Justice of the judicial district of La Paz.