MONTREAL, Canada (PNN) - May 24, 2012 - 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, pig thug cops arrested 176 people under provisions of the new law.
Outlaw terrorist cops immediately declared Wednesday's protest illegal, but allowed it to continue for about four hours before surrounding protesters and making arrests.
On Wednesday night, fascist thug cops in Montreal used kettling techniques - terrorist cops surrounding groups of protesters and not allowing them in or out of the resulting circle - before conducting a mass arrest.
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 during Wednesday’s march.
Protesters have vowed to continue the nightly protests that began on February 14, 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 per year for five years starting autumn 2012; a total increase of $1,625.
“It’s something to ridicule the bill,” she said. “If we are (illegally) restricted to hav(ing) a demonstration in Montreal, or in the province, we are going to go outside the province, to Ontario, and have a big demonstration there.”
