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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsProtesters Against Austerity Fill the Streets of Montreal--Why Should Poor Pay More than Rich
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer
A mass protest in Montreal against austerity measures ended with tear gas, rubber bullets, and six arrests Thursday as the mostly student-led demonstrations defied measures calling the protest "illegal."
Anti-austerity protesters march through Montreal, April 3, 2014 (Photo via Twitter / Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante @ASSEsolidarite)
Tens of thousands of students and their supporters filled the streets for the first time since the "Maple Spring" protests of 2012 in opposition to rising tuition costs swept Quebec.
The protest on Thursday came in opposition to the 2014 provincial budget, which critics say inflicts painful austerity.
Montreal police declared the protest illegal before it began, claiming organizers did not seek approval for the route of the protest march.
Police eventually employed tear gas, pepper spray, projectile launchers, batons and shields against the growing crowds that flooded the streets of the city, CBC News reports.
Student group Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ), one of the driving forces behind the 2012 protest movement, led Thursday's demonstrations. Those organizers also expressed anger over the ruling party, Parti Quebecois, who came into power with the support of the student movement, only to split with the demands of the students once they held power. CTV News reports:
However, many students were dissatisfied with Marois' solution of lowering the proposed tuition fee increases instead of cancelling them altogether [...]
The protesters blame the PQ for increasing the cost of public services, education and electricity.
About 60,000 students went on strike Thursday, ASSÉ spokesperson Justin Arcand told the crowd.
In a few days Quebecers are heading to the polls, but the majority of those protesting say they have been left without a solid choice.
"For students carrying placards demanding more social housing, lower electricity costs, less surveillance, no pipelines or oil exploration, and an end to cuts in social services, all three leaders were one and the same," the Montreal Gazette reports.
"They are all right wing and they all want to privatize," a law student at Université de Montréal told the Montreal Gazette. "And they all want to make the poor pay more, instead of the rich."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/04-2
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)60,000 students went on strike.
BelgianMadCow
(5,379 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)There was another huge protest I didn't link...
GLOBAL!
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)now do we?
malaise
(269,054 posts)socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)The US Six O'clock news.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)But get everything else. Why is Canada not on ROKU?
malaise
(269,054 posts)Guess we're lucky
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Roku...I've not understood why it isn't part of the Int. lineup. Some DU'ers get it on extended Cable but I think they must live on the border. I don't have extended cable and am Southern USA..but I don't think I could get it even with extended cable if I wanted to.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)QS(now that the PQ has embraced the corporate agenda by giving right-wing media magnate Pierre-Karl Peledeau a nomination for a National Assembly seat)is the only strong anti-austerity party in the race.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)K&R !
LuvNewcastle
(16,846 posts)The PTB have set up RW parties and then there's a 'LW' party that promises change, but doesn't really do anything when they're put in office, or they give the people half-measures to try and appease them. People across the world are setting up detours to get around the parties that have been provided for them. Will it happen here? I think it will if the parties don't start listening to the people. I wonder how much change the PTB will allow before they crack down.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)I believe we got a sense of that with Occupy. So I'd say, not very much.
I used to think the owners would allow dissent to the point of effectiveness at taking profits out of their pockets. When this point of effectiveness came, THAT'S when they would crack down. Nowdays, I think the crackdown might come when there's a movement that looks like it MIGHT become effective.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I thought the need to control would stop at $$$, scads of $$$. But, as we have seen with the billionaire pity parade, they also want to be adored. They want total compliance, complete thought control.
It is no wonder we are seeing the same tactics and austerity all over the world. It flows from the banks this time and those financial wizards have come up with a plan that they like and are trying it everywhere. It is a precondition for acceptance into the eurozone, with many countries, such as Greece, so obviously not fit to join. But that wasn't the plan. Their books were plain as day, and now we are seeing what the true intent was. Spain & Turkey as well: old world treasures; public pensions; freezing of assets.
We are unfortunately in the storm of bankster and MIC rule, so we have it coming and going.