Student protests sweep Canada. Students of the Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec, turned out in thousands to protest against growing tuition fees. As reported by Agence France Presse, the students are using pipes and horns, and pounding on pans, creating a din that has become a symbol of protest by Montreal university students. According to the organizers of the protests, the number of participants has reached five - seven thousand people.
Mass student campaigning against growing tuition fees began in Montreal and Quebec over three months ago. In mid-May, the authorities of the province were forced to adopt a special law restricting freedom of assembly. On the night of May 23 to 24, one of these events erupted into riots in the cities of Montreal and Quebec, with the police detaining about 700 people. Quebec Considers Draconian Anti-Protest Law. Share This article was originally published at the invaluable Studentactivist.net and is reposted here with permission. Follow @studentactivism to keep up with its regular reporting. Quebec’s legislature, shaken by the province’s ongoing student strike, is now debating passage of an emergency anti-protest law that the chair of the Quebec bar association calls “a breach to the fundamental, constitutional rights” of its citizens.
The legislation, known as Bill 78, would mandate an end to the strike, impose extraordinary restrictions on demonstrations and impel local student associations to prevent their members from engaging in illegal protest. It would impose harsh fines for violations of provisions one legal experts say “are written so vaguely they’re impossible to respect,” while threatening student activists with the dissolution of their student unions in the case of non-compliance.
Key provisions of the bill as presented to the legislature: Wow. Reuters - International: The student conflict hardens again in Quebec. Près de 700 manifestants ont été arrêtés dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, à Montréal et à Québec, avant d'être relâchés. La contestation ne faiblit pas au Québec. Plus de 100 jours après le début du mouvement contre la hausse des frais de scolarité, 518 manifestants ont été arrêtés à Montréal et 170 à Québec. C'est la première fois que les forces de l'ordre procèdent à une «arrestation de groupe» aussi massive dans la province canadienne pour «attroupement illégal». Douze autres arrestations individuelles ont eu lieu. La contestation est en train de changer de nature, de nombreux manifestants entendant protester non seulement contre la hausse des frais de scolarité, à l'origine du différend vieux de près de quatre mois, mais aussi contre une loi spéciale, adoptée par le gouvernement provincial de centre-droit de Jean Charest, pour restreindre la liberté de manifester.
«C'est une arrestation de masse complètement arbitraire. Tous les manifestants relâchés (Avec AFP) Our Not-So-Friendly Northern Neighbor. Quebec Government Passes Law t. Quebec's 'truncheon law' rebounds as student strike spreads | Martin Lukacs. At a tiny church tucked away in a working-class neighbourhood in Montreal's east end, Quebec's new outlaws gathered on Sunday for a day of deliberations. Aged mostly between 18 and 22, their membership in a progressive student union has made them a target of government scorn and scrutiny.
And they have been branded a menace to society because of their weapons: ideas of social justice and equal opportunity in education, alongside the ability to persuade hundreds of thousands to join them in the streets. Under a draconian law passed by the Quebec government on Friday, their very meeting could be considered a criminal act.
Law 78 – unprecedented in recent Canadian history – is the latest, most desperate manoeuvre of a provincial government that is afraid it has lost control over a conflict that began as a student strike against tuition hikes but has since spread into a protest movement with wide-ranging social and environmental demands. All this is said with a straight face. Quebec passes 'emergency bill' on student protests. 18 May 2012Last updated at 22:18 ET The protests over rising tuition fees have at times turned violent since they began 14 weeks ago The provincial government of Quebec has passed emergency legislation to curtail the most sustained student protests in Canadian history.
The law will shut some universities early and impose fines on protesters blocking students from classes. Thousands of people protested in the streets of Montreal on Friday after the 68-48 vote. Demonstrations against rising tuition fees began 14 weeks ago, escalating into a standoff with the government. The bill will remain in effect until 1 July 2013. As the bill was debated by lawmakers, masked demonstrators blew horns and shouted the name of Quebec Premier Jean Charest. At one point, people went on to a motorway, moving between stopped cars. 'Democracy's darkest days' The law does not back away from rising tuition fees.
The bill bans demonstrations within 50m (165ft) of university buildings. Nearly 700 people arrested in Quebec protests. 24 May 2012Last updated at 11:27 ET Nearly 700 people have been detained in two Quebec cities in the biggest single night of mass arrests since student protests over fees began in February.
Police invoked a controversial new law designed to curb demonstrations as they detained 518 people in Montreal and another 176 in Quebec City. The protests against a planned rise in tuition charges escalated after Bill 78 passed last week. The Quebec government insists it will not change its mind on the fee hike. The march in Montreal late on Wednesday began peacefully, as several thousand demonstrators flooded the central square of Quebec's largest city.
Police later penned in the protest - adopting a controversial European police tactic known as "kettling" - after reporting they had been pelted with rocks and other projectiles. Those arrested were released on Thursday and issued with fines of more than C$600 (£370), AFP news agency reports. Quebec anti-austerity protests: Police accused of shooting people in face with plastic bullets. Quebec anti-austerity protests: Police accused of shooting people in face with plastic bullets video Quebec France 24, May 12, 2012 A video filmed during a protest in Victoriaville, in the Canadian province of Quebec, shows a policeman aiming at a crowd with a gun followed by an image of a protester on the ground, with blood staining the back of his head. According to the protest’s organisers, these images prove that Quebec police shot at protesters’ heads with plastic bullets. This video was filmed by William Ray, who explained that he filmed three sequences just a few seconds apart.
On this slowed-down version of the video, a policeman can be seen taking aim at 0'5 seconds. William Ray 'The young man was just standing there, not yelling, gesturing or throwing anything' William Ray filmed the video above, which protest leaders submitted to the authorities Wednesday to encourage them to investigate the incident.