TIMELINE: Protests as ousted Honduran president returns

(Reuters) - Honduran troops and police clashed on Tuesday with hundreds of supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya outside Brazil's embassy where he took refuge.

Honduras' military expelled Zelaya from the country in a June 28 coup.

Here is a timeline of events since the crisis began.

June 24 - President Manuel Zelaya fires military chief of staff General Romeo Vasquez after the army refused to help distribute ballots for an unofficial referendum on overhauling the constitution in part to allow for presidential re-election. The Supreme Court had already ruled the vote illegal.

June 25 - The Supreme Court orders Vasquez reinstated. Zelaya leads a group of rowdy supporters to storm a military base to take the ballots by force and vows to move ahead with the vote.

June 28 - On the day of the referendum vote, soldiers stage a coup by arresting Zelaya in an early morning raid on his house and expelling him in his pajamas on a plane to Costa Rica.

-- Honduran Congress names Roberto Micheletti interim president. Supreme Court says it ordered the army to remove Zelaya.

-- The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank suspend loans to Honduras.

June 29 - U.S. President Barack Obama says the coup is illegal and will set a "terrible precedent" of transition by military force unless it is reversed.

June 30 - The U.N. General Assembly calls on member states to recognize only the Zelaya government. Zelaya says he has vowed to return to Honduras.

July 4 - The Organization of American States meets in Washington and suspends Honduras after the interim authorities ignore an ultimatum to reinstate Zelaya.

July 5 - At least one pro-Zelaya protester is killed and two wounded in clashes at Tegucigalpa's airport as Honduran troops block an attempt by Zelaya to return home.

July 7 - Micheletti and Zelaya accept Costa Rican President Oscar Arias as a mediator to try to resolve the crisis.

July 8 - The U.S. government suspends $16.5 million in military assistance programs to Honduras.

July 9 - Micheletti and Zelaya travel to Costa Rica to discuss the crisis with Arias but never meet face-to-face.

July 22 - Rival governments open new talks and in a sign of flexibility, the pro-coup delegation says it will let the Honduran Congress and judiciary consider a proposal to let Zelaya return.

July 23 - Zelaya leaves the Nicaraguan capital Managua along with a convoy of supporters and journalists and heads north for the Honduran border.

July 24 - Honduran soldiers tighten border with Nicaragua against an attempt by Zelaya to enter the country. He takes a few symbolic steps inside Honduras then leaves.

July 30 - The de facto government insists it will not allow the ousted president to return to office, cooling hopes of a deal to end the political crisis.

August 31 - Zelaya is unlikely to return to office, Venezuelan President Chavez says, after weeks of tough diplomacy to reinstall his close leftist ally.

September 21 - Zelaya ends almost three months of exile by sneaking back into Honduras. He sought refuge at the Brazilian embassy to avoid being arrested. Soldiers patrol streets around the embassy and enforce an all-day curfew.

September 22 - Police clash with pro-Zelaya demonstrators outside Brazil's embassy where he took refuge.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit and Mica Rosenberg in Mexico City;)