Quebec Student Protests: 2.5K Arrested So Far

Hundreds of thousands take to streets
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 25, 2012 8:45 AM CDT
Quebec Student Protests: 2.5K Arrested So Far
Police surround dozens of protesters as they make arrests following a march against tuition fee hikes Thursday, May 24, 2012 in Montreal. A combined force of Montreal and Quebec provincial police surrounded hundreds of demonstrators near the city's downtown before taking at least 400 of them into...   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Ryan Remiorz)

With countless students taking to the streets of Quebec to protest tuition hikes, the number of arrests over the last three months has already hit 2,500—and it's still growing. Protesters were initially furious over the increased fees; now they're also opposing a new law limiting demonstration rights, the Guardian reports. Bill 78 requires protesters to get a permit and give police eight hours' notice before holding a demonstration. But it hasn't held protesters back: Some 300,000 marched in Montreal Tuesday, prompting 100 arrests.

The next night, police let what they dubbed an illegal protest continue for four hours, then began arrests, with 518 people ultimately detained. While protesters say they were peaceful, police say rocks were hurled at them. Still, students' efforts continued last night, expanding outside of Montreal and Quebec City to smaller towns and featuring marchers clanging pots and pans, the Winnipeg Free Press reports. (Elsewhere in North America, students are voicing their anger over a very different issue: Mexico's presidential election.)

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