Police protect Grand Prix events, Francofolies from demonstrators. MONTREAL - Montreal police scrambled again Friday night to keep protesters out of the Quartier des Spectacles where the second night of the Francofolies Festival was under way, as well as the Grand Prix events on Peel and Crescent Sts. Two different protests began at 8:30 p.m.; the nightly pots and pans, or “casseroles” march against raising tuition fees and the province’s special law to limit protests began as usual at Place Émilie Gamelin behind the Berri-UQAM métro station.
About 400 people, followed by dozens of police vehicles, as well as scores of officers on foot and bicycles, flooded west toward the Francofolies Festival site. Montreal police reported there were 12 arrests. Eight people were arrested for bylaw infractions and released. The other four were arrested under the Criminal Code for armed aggression, assault with a weapon and assaulting a police officer. When the marchers headed south to Ste. Mlalonde@montrealgazette.com rrocha@montrealgazette.com. Protests in Quebec: Reframing the debate. Quebec Student Strike Gets Lift From Occupy. WASHINGTON -- As Quebec's "student spring" continues to blossom, inspired Occupy activists have organized their own demonstrations of support across the United States, with many hoping to draw attention to mounting student debt in both countries. University students in Quebec remain on strike to protest a 60 percent hike in tuition fees over the next five years, and the streets of Montreal are now filled nightly by the sounds of thousands banging on pots and pans.
As negotiations between the three main student federations and the Quebec regional government remain at an impasse, American activists are demonstrating in solidarity with the activists in Quebec, attracting hundreds in U.S. cities from Oakland, Calif., to Washington, D.C. Many have taken after the Canadian protesters' clanging of the "casseroles" by bringing their own pots and pans to the actions. Occupy Wall Street in New York was the first to organize a protest in support of the growing movement in Quebec on May 22. Quebec protesters explain why they march. Canadian Federation of Students | Bill 78 condemned by national student movement. OTTAWA and GATINEAU, QC, June 1, 2012 /CNW/ - At the National General Meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students, delegates voted unanimously to condemn Québec's Law 78.
Passed on May 18, Law 78 criminalizes students' rights to assembly, association and expression in Québec. "Inspired by the resistance of students in Québec's, students' unions across Canada passed this emergency motion to support students in their fight to defend their public post-secondary education system," said Roxanne Dubois, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students.
The motion, served by the Graduate Students' Association of the University of Ottawa and seconded by the Dawson College Student Union, contained the following clauses: The National General Meeting is taking place in Gatineau, Québec, until Sunday June 3. The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's largest student organization, uniting more than one-half million students in all ten provinces. For further information: If tuition talks fail, is an election next in Quebec? Quebec may budge on tuition hike. Jean-Luc Lavallee, QMI Agency , Last Updated: 2:07 PM ET QUEBEC CITY -- Quebec is considering concessions during last-ditch talks to end a crippling student strike, including a partial rollback to the tuition increase that sparked the crisis.
Finance Minister Raymond Bachand confirmed Wednesday that the government is currently examining "all sorts of ideas" to solve the three-month walkout that threatens the summer tourist season. Education Minister Michelle Courchesne began a lengthy bargaining session on Monday in the provincial capital with four main student leaders, and the government discussed the tuition hike for the first time since the strike began.
Quebec is prepared to scale back the hike so long as a student tax credit is also reduced, Bachand said. He added that any compromise with students must be at zero extra cost to taxpayers. "And if within that, we can ease the costs to students ... it's a win-win solution. " Kotarski: Students unfairly smeared. Last week, the National Post gave us the delightful story of a University of Toronto law graduate named Alex Kenjeev, who walked into the Scotiabank and put down a bag with $114,460 in cash to pay off his student loan. Kenjeev's stunt should have been the sort of quirky anecdote that happily fits on the back pages of a newspaper, but with ugly emergency laws, mass arrests and more than 100 days of tuition fee protests raging in Quebec, let's ask a serious question - why in the world should a Canadian student owe $114,460 (actually more, since, according to subsequent reports, Kenjeev was paying off roughly $190,000 in debt) on his student loan?
Canadian commentators of a certain age group see nothing wrong with this situation, casually throwing around words like "entitled," "unrealistic," "spoiled" and "Greek. " But, let's get back to Kenjeev. Kenjeev graduated from the U of T's law school in 2009. About a week later, her colleague, Jeffrey Simpson, piled on. Ontario students in solidarity with Quebec students. As a social crisis over tuition deepens in Quebec, students and unions in neighbouring Ontario are gearing up to join their counterparts by protesting their own tuition fees — the highest in Canada.
The groups say they’re not advocating violence, but warn there’s growing unrest among Ontario students who are frustrated with paying sky-high fees for their education. “We all support the students in Quebec and their demands,” said Sandy Hudson of the Canadian Federation of Students. “And we understand that the best way for us to support students in Quebec is to actually challenge our own government.” Students are already taking action in Ottawa and Toronto, and there are other groups across the province who are prepared to join the cause, they said. Asked whether those protests might escalate to the kind of violence seen in Quebec streets, Hudson said she doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. “That’s not my goal,” Hudson said. It’s up to students to decide what they want to do, she added. Quebec government to help cover costs of Montreal protests.
Quebec Student Protests: It's Not Just About Tuition Anymore As Anger At Bill 78 Spreads. MONTREAL - The unpredictable nightly protests that helped spur a government crackdown have largely been a Montreal-only affair — until now. Since Premier Jean Charest passed a law last week limiting protests in the province, defiant demonstrations have popped up in cities not known as hotbeds of activism.
Small groups from Granby, south of Montreal, to Jonquiere, north of Quebec City, have joined Montrealers in taking to the streets with pots and pans to protest Bill 178. Their message is clear: This conflict is not just about tuition anymore. In recent days, between 50 and 200 people have been gathering to protest the law in Trois-Rivieres, an industrial city roughly halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.
"This has gone beyond the student movement," said Gaetan Bouchard, a local blogger and longtime social activist. "Bill 78 has brought out many citizens and workers," Bouchard added. Participants have also remarked on their apparent spontaneity. Maclean's Quebec Cover Takes Aim At Student Protesters. The cover of the June 4th edition of Maclean's magazine will add more fuel to the fiery debate around Quebec's student protests. The magazine features a masked protester and the headline "Quebec's New Ruling Class.
" "How a group of entitled students went to war and shut down a province. Over $325. " While tuition may have been the initial cause of the unrest in Quebec, many observers have noted that the protests have grown into a larger social movement. The Charest government has also been heavily criticized for the heavy-handed emergency bill that gives police more power to fine and arrest protesters. "It amounts to a temporary suspension of certain liberties and allows the government to avoid serious negotiations with student leaders. This isn't the first time Maclean's raised the ire of Quebecers. What do you think of Maclean's latest cover? Dave Kaufman: I'm Not a Quebec Protester, But Police Assaulted Me Anyway. On Tuesday evening, just before midnight, I was assaulted by a police officer. No warning, no explanation, just a swift swing of a nightstick to the back of my leg. It was on Rene Levesque Boulevard. I was walking west, away from the protest area, near the corner of Sanguinet.
I was with one other person. Both of us are freelance journalists, and had been observing the protests from Ste. About a quarter of the way up the block two younger looking kids ran past us. "Bouge! Two police officers, both swinging their batons, were charging at us, telling us to run in the same direction we had been walking in. I knew that as I ran by he was going to hit me with his nightstick. As soon as I was parallel to him, he hit me in the back of my calf. There were other points in the evening where we were observing the protests and felt much more susceptible to danger than we had at that moment.
This is Montreal under Bill 78. I am not a student, I don't wear a red square, and I am not on strike. Student groups head to court to overthrow Bill 78. MONTREAL - Protests against the Charest government are moving into the courtroom. On Friday the largest student groups filed motions against Bill 78, the emergency legislation passed last week after protesters stormed classrooms at UQAM. Lawyers say the law violates the Charter and basic human rights because of its restrictions on freedom of assembly, freedom of association, and changes made to the burden proof for those arrested. The motions will be heard next Wednesday in Quebec Superior Court. "We are doing this because we are genuinely worried that basic important rights such as freedom of association, freedom of expression and the right to hold peaceful demonstrations are being attacked," said Leo Bureau-Blouin, the leader of the CEGEP federation FECQ.
Some of Quebec's largest labour groups, along with many community groups, are supporting student associations in their motion. The motions are two-pronged. Negotiations planned Is a solution possible? Traduction. Quebec government: We're willing to talk with students. Red squares sweep Montreal | The Moncton Free Press. CKUT radio: Mass Montréal protest for accessible education. Reviewed by Coop Média de Montréal editors. copyeditedfact checked [?]
CKUT radio: Mass Montréal protest for accessible education audio report recorded on the streets of downtown Montreal 22/03 by Stefan Christoff Mass protest for accessible education in downtown Montreal. Listen to a radio report on the massive student protest today in downtown Montreal, a demonstration that completely filled large parts of the downtown area. Many estimate that upwards of 200 000 people participated in the demonstration, one of the largest streets protests in Canada over the past decade. Over recent weeks students in Quebec have been building a major student strike, to reject moves by the Quebec government to hike tuition fees $1625 over the next five years. L'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) is leading the current student strike, via Coalition large de l’ASSÉ (CLASSE). For more information on the ongoing student strike visit www.stopthehike.ca About the poster About: 294 words bar baz.
Canada News: Montreal subway sabotage accused face terror-hoax related charges. MONTREAL—The gravity of the actions alleged against four young people accused in connection with Thursday’s subway smoke bombings became much more apparent Saturday with the addition of an anti-terror related charge. The three women and one man, all in their 20s, will each face a charge of hoax regarding terrorist activity, which carries a maximum prison term of five years, police revealed Saturday. If anyone had been injured during the hoax, the maximum sentence would be 10 years. They have also been charged with conspiracy and mischief over $5,000.
The man has also been charged with possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon, in this case, police said, it was a knife. All four, who turned themselves in to police Friday afternoon, will appear in court this afternoon via videoconference. On Thursday, smoke bombs were thrown in three key subway stations, forcing the entire network to shut down at the height of the morning rush hour. “They are nervous,” she added, “but solid.” “Revolt!” Cry from the heart wrenching | Education | News | Journal de Montreal. Quebec students going on strike over tuition-fee hikes. QUEBEC - About 36,000 post-secondary students in Quebec are expected to desert their classrooms Tuesday amid strikes over tuition hikes. The strikes have been triggered by votes at universities and colleges, with students at some institutions choosing to use the tactic to apply pressure against the Charest government.
While less than 10 per cent of the province's students have chosen to participate, the figure has grown considerably in recent days. Premier Jean Charest showed no sign of budging Monday. He called his government's policy "fair" and well-thought-out, following consultations held over a number of years. Charest added that bursaries and loans would increase in order to guarantee student access, as part of a broader series of measures to increase funding for Quebec universities. "For example, every student who has a bursary will see their bursary increase with an equivalent amount of money of the increase in tuition fees," the premier told reporters Monday. Thousands of Quebec students march over tuition fees. Tens of thousands packed Montreal's streets Thursday to protest a tuition increase proposed by the government of Premier Jean Charest -- an increase that march organizers said is tantamount to a declaration of war on students.
Though exact numbers weren't available, some estimates put the crowd at around 200,000. Many students carried signs and shouted slogans decrying the fee increase. During the largely peaceful protest, university and CEGEP students boycotted classes, and students from Dawson College in Montreal blocked the entrance to a metro station. The demonstrations peaked in the afternoon as the throng of students and supporters gathered downtown to march through Montreal's streets and toward government offices. In spite of the rain, protesters focused on Charest's Montreal offices, and police intervened when some projectiles were hurled and fireworks were set off. Organizers said that the rally was among the largest education protests in a decade. Multiple injuries,106 arrests at Victoriaville tuition riot.
Ctvmontreal.ca Published Sunday, May 6, 2012 3:39PM EDT Last Updated Saturday, May 19, 2012 8:13AM EDT MONTREAL - A protester reportedly lost an eye after suffering head trauma, one of several injuries that occurred after events got out of hand at a tuition protest in Victoriaville that started at around 6:45 p.m. Friday. Demonstrators stormed past barriers, tossing rocks and other projectiles, while police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, in a series of skirmishes that ended with 106 arrests. Another three were arrested Saturday morning after being found with objects that could be used for violence. Three SQ police officers were hurt, two seriously, and six demonstrators were also injured in the clashes. Maxence Valade, 20, lost the use of an eye and suffered serious head wounds after having been hit by a projectile near the eye. On Saturday a Surete de Quebec spokesman said that he believed that the injuries were caused by projectiles tossed by other demonstrators.
'Important' meeting with students expected: Que. gov't. 14 arrested, 6 injured as students protest in Montreal. Montreal Student Protest March Declared Illegal. Will Quebec-style student protests spread to Ontario? | Canada Politics. Line Beauchamp resigns • National • 98.5 FM Montreal. News :: International :: Almost 700 arrested in Canada tuition protest.
Quebec: From Quiet Revolution to not-so-quiet student riot - Canada.