Frustrated students show no sign of wavering resolve

Thursday night’s demo remains mostly calm

It took less than 30 minutes for police to declare Thursday night’s demonstration illegal, saying they were bringing in the riot squad because projectiles had been thrown at them and they were asking everyone to leave.

But despite the early scuffle, tensions didn’t seem to be as high after Wednesday night’s violent clash with the police, and participants reported fewer masked dem- onstrators trying to instigate trouble.

At about 11:15 p.m. tensions started to escalate, with some firecrackers going off and police demanding the crowd disperse. People in the crowd called for calm.

A group that splintered off in a different direction earlier was also declared illegal at about 9:30 p.m. when they were throwing garbage cans, benches and orange cones into the street, police said.

Still, even police said things weren’t too out of control and no pepper spray or tear gas was used at that point. The crowd even chanted: “we are staying peaceful” for a while.

Unlike Wednesday, by about 11:30 p.m. there were still no broken windows, vandalized cars or the use of pepper spray.

Maybe students were trying to be on their best behaviour for Québec Solidaire spokespeople Amir Khadir and Françoise David, who showed their support by marching with them.

Frustrated students didn’t show any signs of fatigue or wavering resolve as they plowed through downtown on a soggy night to denounce the battle over tuition hikes.

Students are determined to keep driving home the message about how unhappy they are with the government’s plan to hike tuition by $1,625 over five years, and even more unhappy about how attempts at negotiation have recently collapsed.

They say mobilization is their only weapon in their battle to keep tuition fees frozen. But the mobilization has repeatedly prompted violence and, after a particularly tense couple of days, FEUQ president Martine Desjardins said on Thursday she had concerns.

“We’re asking everyone to be very peaceful.”

She said student leaders are taking a breather to weigh their options – and to help calm tensions.

But she said a rumour that has been circulating that Education Minister Line Beauchamp was proposing to spread the increase over seven years rather than five has not been offered to the students.

Students were rebuffed yet again by Education Minister Line Beauchamp on Thursday when she rejected their proposal to resume talks. A similar message on Wednesday sparked violence in the streets Wednesday night which led to arrests of about 85 people.