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Quebec student leader takes protest on road as group looks to create Ontario ‘strike movement’
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, known for his telegenic looks and refusal to condemn violence, has been recruited to teach Ontario student leaders about Quebec’s paralyzing student strikes, as Ontario students appear to be setting the stage for their own season of discontent.
The Canadian Federation of Students has organized and funded Mr. Nadeau-Dubois and other Quebec organizers to tour 10 Ontario universities for its Quebec-Ontario Student Solidarity Tour.
“We are optimistic that a general student strike in Ontario can and will succeed, given the right ingredients,” an open letter from Quebec activists to the CFS said, adding the letter “represents a first step towards creating a radical, democratic strike movement in Ontario and beyond.” (Photo: Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
Montreal police arrest 12 as hundreds march in post-Grand Prix protest
Protesters sent a clear message Sunday night that while the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix may be over, their nightly demonstrations will continue.
After a weekend of violence and arrests that put Quebec’s student protests back on the international stage and brought claims of police “profiling,” several hundred marched in a downtown demonstration that almost immediately was declared illegal.
Windows were smashed, notably those at the offices of the Caisse de depot pension manager and at the National Bank.
A police cruiser was also damaged and police said they made 12 arrests — nine for bylaw infractions and three for alleged criminal offences, including assault. It was the 48th consecutive night that protesters gathered in Montreal. (Photos: Gazette; Reuters; AFP/Getty Images)
Gary Clement’s week in review for May 27 – June 2, 2012
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‘Arbitrary’ arrests being used to silence student opposition: Parti Quebecois
The historic scope of the unrest in Quebec was illustrated in surreal scenes and statistics Thursday: more people were detained within a few hours — at least 650 of them, in mass roundups — than were arrested in the entire October Crisis.
More than 2,500 people have been arrested in a months-long dispute that has catapulted the province onto international news pages.
That is at least five times the number jailed during the 1970 FLQ crisis that saw martial law declared in Quebec.
“That’s where the Quebec Liberal party has taken us: mass arrests, more often than not arbitrary ones, to silence opposition,” said Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois.
Record arrests as police use controversial kettling to control Montreal protests
Police made more than 500 arrests Wednesday evening, the largest number of people arrested in a single night so far in the weeks-long Quebec student demonstrations, after using a controversial technique to control protesters.
The evening march that began with people festively banging pots and pans in support of protesting students ended in the early morning hours with police kettling a crowd of demonstrators and arresting 518 people.
The arrests came just hours after the Quebec government signalled it would be getting tougher on the striking students and set strict conditions for any resumption of negotiations with student strike leaders: There will be no talk of a tuition freeze, and no question of scrapping a newly enacted emergency law. (Photos: The Canadian Press; Gazette; AP/Getty Images; Reuters)
Controversial new laws in effect, Montreal police arrest dozens
Montreal police brought the hammer down on student demonstrators Tuesday night, enforcing a controversial law that brought tens of thousands into the streets in a protest earlier in the day that drew international support.
By the end of a cat-and-mouse operation that marked the fourth straight night of clashes, police spokesman Simon Delorme said that at least 100 people had been arrested and two police officers had been injured.
It is believed to be the first time Bill 78 and the city’s new anti-mask bylaw were used by police.
The daytime march was considered to be one of the biggest protests held in the city and related events were held in New York, Paris, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
Although fewer than one-third of Quebec’s college and university students are boycotting classes, they have galvanized anger against the provincial government to the point that it tried to defend its new law by saying there were other places with tougher legislation.
Full story here. (Photos: The Canadian Press; The Gazette; Reuters; AFP/Getty Images)
