MONTREAL - Montreal police have arrested an unknown number of protesters after an initially peaceful march by Quebec students over tuition fee hikes took a destructive turn Tuesday night.
Thousands turned out to protest the Quebec government’s recent decision to raise fees by three per cent per a year. Many students believe the government should have frozen tuition fees after a summit held last month on education.
The noisy but peaceful march began to turn rowdy near Montreal’s Chinatown district late Tuesday night and police in riot gear on foot and on horseback charged the crowd.
Police said there have been arrests, but could not immediately say how many people were in custody.
Police also said protesters had broken some shop windows during the march and vandalized some patrol cars by smashing windows and defacing them with spray paint.
The march was a rekindling of nightly protests that took place during last year’s student unrest. Most were peaceful, but some marches turned violent and led to mass arrests.
Tuesday’s protest drew a heavy police presence from the outset as demonstrators chanted, set off noisemakers and waved banners during their march through the city core.
“One, two, three, four, this is a class war,” yelled some protesters in English, while others called on demonstrators to “take to the streets” in French.
Police declared the march illegal almost immediately as organizers failed to provide a route for the protest as required by municipal bylaws. Officers said they would allow the protest to proceed, however, as long as it remained peaceful.
Quebec’s student strikes began in February 2012 after then-premier Jean Charest’s government announced tuition increases of $1,625 spread over five years.
The Parti Quebecois cancelled the Liberals’ plan after it took power following the Sept. 4 provincial election. The PQ’s increase will raise tuition by $70 per year.
Tuesday night’s protest was spurred after last month’s long-awaited summit on education where student leaders had hoped to win a freeze on tuition.
A demonstration took place on Feb. 26 after the government announced its three-per-cent-per-year increases.
Premier Pauline Marois left the summit proclaiming an end to social unrest but within hours student marchers were clashing with police, resulting in 13 arrests.
The scene was reminiscent of Quebec’s so-called Maple Spring, which made news around the world.
Class boycotts followed as did nightly marches which were mostly peaceful, but which sometimes degenerated into projectile-throwing melees and scuffles with riot police.
In at least one case, police rounded up more than 500 people after corralling demonstrators on a downtown street.
One of the most rowdy clashes was during the weekend of the Montreal Grand Prix, when fires were set and windows were smashed as police battled demonstrators.
The nightly demonstrations also gained recognition for their rallying cry, which usually happened promptly at 8 p.m. and saw people banging pots and pans in neighbourhoods around Montreal and in other parts of the province.
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CP | By Nelson Wyatt, The Canadian Press Posted: 03/05/2013 8:34 pm EST | Updated: 03/05/2013 11:16 pm EST