Thread: Canada student protests erupt into political crisis with mass arrests

Canada student protests erupt into political crisis with mass arrests
By Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian
Thursday, May 24, 2012 20:04 EDT


Quebec students protesters via AFP
Topics: montreal


More than 500 people were arrested in Montreal on Wednesday night as protestors defy controversial new law Bill 78

Protests that began in opposition to tuition fees in Canada have exploded into a political crisis with the mass arrest of hundreds of demonstrators amid a backlash against draconian emergency laws.

More than 500 people were arrested in a demonstration in Montreal on Wednesday night as protesters defied a controversial new law – Bill 78 – that places restrictions on the right to demonstrate. In Quebec City, police arrested 176 people under the provisions of the new law.

Demonstrators have been gathering in Montreal for just over 100 days to oppose tuition increases by the Quebec provincial government. On Tuesday, about 100 people were arrested after organisers say 300,000 people took the streets.

But what began as a protest against university fee increases has expanded to a wider movement to oppose Bill 78, which was rushed through by legislators in Quebec in response to the demonstrations. The bill imposes severe restrictions on protests, making it illegal for protesters to gather without having given police eight hours’ notice and securing a permit.

On Wednesday night, police in Montreal used kettling techniques – officers surrounding groups of protesters and not allowing them in or out of the resulting circle – before conducting a mass arrest.

Police immediately declared Wednesday’s protest illegal, but allowed it to continue for about four hours before surrounding protesters and making arrests.

Martine Desjardins, who represents more than 125,000 students in her role as president of the federation of university students in Quebec, said protesters had been “peaceful” on Wednesday’s march.

“It makes a lot of people angry,” she said. “We fear that tonight, because there will be more demonstrations going on, people will become a bit more violent, because as you saw yesterday, when you are peaceful, you get arrested.”

Police arrested 518 people at the demonstration, the largest number detained in a single night so far. Montreal police constable Daniel Fortier, who told reporters rocks were thrown at police, said most of those arrested would face municipal bylaw infractions for being at an illegal assembly.

“I was so so scared,” said Magdalena, one of those arrested, who asked that her last name not be given. She told the Guardian that she had been taking part in the protests since February, and that Wednesday night’s action had actually seemed particularly peaceful.

“This was one of the most jovial I’ve taken part in,” she said. “We were commenting how in good spirits we were, how everyone seemed in such great energy. There were families, children, women with strollers, which you don’t necessarily see at the night protests as much,” she said.

Protesters were allowed to walk freely and briskly through Montreal, she added, but that changed when they came to certain intersection, the pace of the march slowing dramatically. “We didn’t think anything of it,” Magdalena said. “All of a sudden you just smelled tear gas and could see smoke, and people were running.”

Magdalena said people from the front of the march came running back past her and her friend, who had been strolling with their bicycles. “We turned around and there was already a line of cops behind us. We tried to go on the other side but then there was cops there too.

Police officers then tightened their ring around the “hundreds” of protesters, she said, not allowing anyone in or out. Magdalena said this situation continued for an hour, before everyone in the group was read their rights. After that, it was another “hour or two” before she was detained with plastic handcuffs and led to a city bus. She said they were then kept on the bus for “hours and hours” and were not allowed to go to the toilet. “I have some medical problems, and I wasn’t feeling well. I really needed some water and I needed some sugar, and they were really awful, they said they didn’t care,” she said.

Magdalena said she was eventually charged with being part of an unlawful assembly, and given a ticket for $634, which she said she planned to contest.

Protesters have vowed to continue the nightly protests that began on 14 February when Quebec’s liberal provincial government announced it would introduce tuition fee increases over a five-year period. The Quebec government’s department of education, leisure and sport says fees would go up by $325 (£200) per year for five years from autumn 2012, a total increase of $1,625.

The protests have resulted in a backlash against the Quebec prime minister, Jean Charest, who has refused to back down over the tuition fee increase, and the new law.

Students have been boycotting classes over the past three months, arguing that the increases would lead to an increased dropout rate and more debt.

In response to the protests, the provincial government rushed through Bill 78 on 18 May. As well as the restrictions on protests, it suspends the current academic term and provides for when and how classes are to resume.

Some student organisers said that the introduction of the bill, far from cowing the demonstrations, had actually brought more support for their cause.

‘This draconian law has revolted me’

Mathieu Murphy-Perron, who has been helping to organise demonstrations against tuition fees since last year, saod: “I would say that I’ve seen more individuals come out and say: ‘You know what? I was neutral on the question of tuition fees, but to bring this draconian law has revolted me and I will take to the streets with you.

“There have been more and more people who recognise that Bill 78 is a breach of the right of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, and they’re not going to have it.”

Some legal experts argue that the bill contravenes Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms. Montreal constitutional lawyer Julius Grey told the Vancouver Sun that Bill 78 was “flagrantly unconstitutional”. Opposition has come from the Quebec Bar Association and the Quebec human rights commission.

In an appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in the US on Saturday night, the Grammy award-winning band Arcade Fire, who come from Montreal, wore symbolic red squares of cloth on their chests during their performance, in support of the protests.

Murphy-Perron said the red-hued, four sided shapes were visible “everywhere you go” in Montreal, adding that they show the “inter-generational aspect of this struggle”.

“You see red squares on buildings, on homes, on children, on teenagers, on students, on bluehairs, you see them everywhere.”

Desjardins said that she and other student representatives will meet with the government next week in Montreal or Quebec City to discuss tuition fees – the fourth meeting since strikes began.

In the meantime the daily marches would continue, she said, adding that protesters were also planning a protest in Ottawa, around 150 miles west of Montreal, on 29 May. Ottawa is in a different province from Montreal, and so safe from the clutches of Bill 78 – introduced only in Quebec.

“It’s something to ridicule the bill,” she said. “If we are restricted to have a demonstration in Montreal, or in the province, we are going to go outside the province, to Ontario, and have a big demonstration there.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2012
Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian


Canada student protests erupt into political crisis with mass arrests | The Raw Story

Saturday, May 26, 2012
Social Justice on Trial in Canada
Stephen Lendman, Contributor
Activist Post

Destructive neoliberal mandates harm US and European societies. Canada's conservative government force-feeds similar policies.

They include wage and benefit cuts, less social spending, privatization of state resources, mass layoffs, deregulation, tax cuts for corporations and super-rich elites, and harsh crackdowns against resisters.

It's also about sharply hiking college tuition fees, student anger, and criminalizing public responses. More on that below.

In the 1980s, it was called Reaganomics, trickle down, and Thatcherism. In the 1990s, it was "shock therapy." Today, it's austerity. The result is unprecedented wealth transfers to corporate favorites and privileged elites.

Capital's divine rights are prioritized. Social justice is on the chopping block for elimination. Living standards are sacrificed. Ordinary people lose out. Vital services are cut. Human needs go begging. Unemployment and poverty soar. So does rage for change.

Years ago Canada lost its moorings. In December 1984, conservative prime minister, Brian Mulroney, addressed policies that began in the 1970s. Speaking before the New York Economic Club, he announced: "Canada is open for business."


He meant US companies were welcome. Both countries cooperated for greater economic integration. Corporate interests were prioritized. Ordinary people lost out.

Oh Canada took on new meaning. Sacrificing pluralist Canadian democracy and social justice traditions became policy. Major parties formed consensus the way Democrats and Republicans do in America.

Neoliberal harshness was institutionalized. The conservative Harper government stiffened earlier policies. It serves Canada's ruling class. Finance capital is dominant. What big money wants it gets. Corporate power overall makes policy.

Canada shifted hard right under Mulroney. Harper institutionalized it further. Last January, he addressed Davos World Economic Forum participants. He pledged "transformative" pro-business policies.

They include more tax cuts, privatizations, deregulation, and austerity hitting ordinary people hardest. "We will do more, much more," he promised.

Socio-economic policies established represent some of much more to come. Social Canada was hardest hit. Rights for ordinary Canadians no longer matter.

Last March, Canada's House of Commons passed budget cuts and austerity measures on top of others enacted earlier.

They included eliminating thousands of public sector jobs, cutting billions from federal programs, raising the retirement age to 67, and calling federal debt the problem to be addressed. It's the same canard America and European countries use to justify neoliberal harshness.

Canadian social justice follows the same downward trajectory as America and across Europe. Eliminating it altogether is planned. Higher education is affected. Once it was affordable. No longer for many as tuition and fees soar.

Last winter, Quebec's Liberal government announced tuition fee increases over the next five years of around 75% (or $1,625). Stiff annual increases are policy. Other measures slashed vital services and benefits. Thousands of students reacted.

In mid-February, protests and strikes began. One of three provincial student associations initiated them: the Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarite syndicale etudiante (CLASSE: the Broader Coalition of the Association of Student-Union Solidarity).

Others joined in: FEUQ (the Quebec Federation of University Students) and FECQ (Quebec Federation of College Students).

Thousands swelled to 200,000 or more. Most Quebecers support them. Sharp tuition and fee increases force students and families into debt. Others drop out. Available aid is meager compared to years earlier. Higher education grows more unaffordable.

Students react by strikes and protests. They continue into their fourth month. Police confront them. Clashes and arrests follow. The usual pattern repeats against all social justice demonstrations. Legitimate struggles are criminalized.

Money power decides what's right or wrong. Ordinary people haven't a chance. In neoliberal societies like Canada, young people have most to lose. Increasingly shut out of higher education, decent jobs, and bright futures, fighting back remains their only option.

Criminalizing dissent became policy. On May 18, Quebec's Liberal government passed Bill 78. Provisions prohibit student protests or other "form(s) of gathering" within 50 meters of the "outer limits" of the "grounds" of any university or CEGEP (College of general and vocational education) building.

In Quebec, high school ends at grade 11. Completing CEGEP grades 12 and 13 are required for college or university admission. Doing it successfully earns them DECs (dioplomes d'etudes collegial).

CEGEPs also offer three-year programs in vocational studies, computer science, nursing, and other fields. With DEC credits, Bachelor's degrees can be completed in three years. Supporters and critics disagree on the system's merits or disadvantages. It's unique to Quebec.

Bill 78 also requires student associations, unions representing teachers, and CEBEP staff to "employ appropriate means to induce" compliance with enacted measures or face prosecution.

Article 9 authorizes the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports to modify any law to ensure school sessions throughout the bill's time frame.

All demonstrations exceeding 50 people were declared illegal without provincial police approval. Offenders face daily fines. A date for education employees to return to work was established.

Winter semester classes at 11 universities and 14 CEGEPs were suspended. Completing them by August or September was mandated. The law expires July 1, 2013. It's patently illegal.

The 1982 Constitution Act established the Constitution of Canada. It contains a bill of rights called The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It states:

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

Article 7 assures

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person and the right not to be deprived thereof in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

Academic and speech freedoms are fundamental in free societies. So are public assembly and association rights. Without them, all others are threatened.

Howard Zinn called dissent "the highest form of patriotism." Voltaire said, "I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Jefferson said, "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

Bill 78 violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So does a newly passed Montreal City Council ordinance criminalizing face paint, niqads, and other face or head coverings while demonstrating.

On May 22, it was invoked. Baton-wielding police confronted downtown Montreal protesters violently.

Tear gas was used. Dozens were arrested. Charges claimed protesters wore illegal masks and/or confronted police violently.

On May 21, confrontations occurred in Sherbrooke. It's Quebec Premier Jean Charest's home city. Dozens of arrests followed. Charges included demonstrating illegally.

A Final Comment

Student anger shows no signs of ebbing. Social justice rights are too important to sacrifice. Affordable education is vital. Resolution is nowhere in sight. Quebec officials are determined to force-feed austerity. They include stiff annual tuition and fee hikes.

Students are on their own. Union officials sold out to power. Who knows where this ends. Hopefully working Canadians will join them. Social justice includes more than affordable education.

Class war rages in Canada and other Western societies. Governments serve wealth and power. Eroding social justice heads faster toward total elimination. Popular interests suffer.

Ordinary people face neo-serfdom, debt peonage, and police state harshness for resisting. Fighting back is the only chance for change.

A long struggle remains. In fact, it's just begun. Staying the course is key. It's how all great victories are won. They never come easily or quickly. Hopefully Quebec students understand and won't quit. There's too much at stake.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

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