37 arrested, CEGEP du Vieux Montréal in city’s downtown core shut
MONTREAL – Quebec student unrest over planned tuition hikes at the
university level has escalated.
A total of 37 protesters were being kept under police lock and key Friday,
arrested in the wake of a violent overnight clash when Montreal officers
were called in to break up an occupation of a downtown college building.
Those protesters are expected to face a range of charges that include
conspiracy, assault by trespasser, assault with a weapon on police
officers and mischief, Constable Anie Lemieux of Montreal police said.
“We don’t know” if all those behind bars are students enrolled at the
CEGEP du Vieux Montréal, where the disturbance and subsequent eviction
conducted by police took place, she added.
Meanwhile, students protesting a Quebec government program to escalate
university tuitions planned a 1 p.m. demonstation outside a downtown
Montreal hotel.
Said Lemieux as the cops were starting to deal with the criminal-court
fallout from the early-morning events:
“Thirty-seven arrests. That’s a lot of people to check in. … It’s a busy
day for police officers and investigators.”
Some of the protesters evicted overnight “were apparently using fire
extinguishers and other projectiles like bottles” during their early
morning confrontation with the forces of order, she said.
Eight among those detained are minors.
On-site damage included broken windows and graffiti.
Furniture had been piled up, clearly used as barricades.
It all started about 8 p.m. Thursday, Lemieux said, “with people inside.”
“I couldn’t say that they necessarily broke in,” she said.
“They were invited to leave” by the CEGEP administration, she said.
When they didn’t, officers moved in, starting about 2 a.m.
Protesting students join locked-out Rio Tinto workers in demonstration
THE GAZETTE February 17, 2012
Students from University of Montreal join members of the metal workers
union, of Alma Quebec, in a noisy demonstration Friday in front of the
Sheraton centre hotel in downtown Montreal.
Students from University of Montreal join members of the metal workers
union, of Alma Quebec, in a noisy demonstration Friday in front of the
Sheraton centre hotel in downtown Montreal.
Photograph by: Peter McCabe , The Gazette
MONTREAL - A protest over tuition fee hikes by about 100 Université de
Montréal students received an unexpected boost on Friday afternoon from
the presence of 400 locked-out Rio Tinto employees as both groups staged
simultaneous demonstrations outside the Sheraton Hotel on René Lévesque
Blvd.
The workers, locked out since January, targeted the Sheraton because Rio
Tinto executives were attending a Montreal Board of Trade luncheon at the
hotel.
The students chanted against fee hikes at the same venue because Education
Minister Line Beauchamps was the featured speaker at the luncheon.
Police presence at the site was heavy. The afternoon protests followed an
overnight clash between police and students at the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal
that saw 37 people arrested. All were freed Friday at 5 p.m.
Those protesters are expected to face a range of charges including
conspiracy, assault with a weapon on police officers, and mischief,
Constable Anie Lemieux of Montreal police said.
A court date of March 29 has been scheduled. All those who were arrested
have been ordered to stay at least 300 metres away from the CEGEP until
their day in court.
It was unclear whether all those behind bars were students at CEGEP du
Vieux Montréal.
Eight among those detained are minors.
Some of the protesters evicted overnight “were apparently using fire
extinguishers and other projectiles like bottles” during their early
morning confrontation with police, Lemieux said.
On-site damage included broken windows and graffiti. Furniture had been
piled up and used as barricades.
The incident started about 8 p.m. Thursday “with people inside,” Lemieux
said, and “they were invited to leave” by the CEGEP administration.
When they didn’t, officers moved in, starting about 2 a.m.
Everything was over by about 6 a.m., Lemieux added.
The junior-college administration had earlier announced that “all
activities have been suspended” following a general-strike vote by
students, part of a wider protest against planned university tuition
increases.
Among the 4,944 students belonging to the Association générale étudiante
de CEGEP du Vieux Montréal who cast ballots, 58 per cent voted in favour
of a walkout.
No immediate monetary estimate of the damage was available.
Friday afternoon’s demonstrations, while noisy, ended peacefully after 90
minutes.
PDF
No comments:
Post a Comment