Montreal police arrested 294 people in the most recent rally against Quebec tuition fees on March 22, a year after the protest that attracted tens of thousands of students to the Montreal streets.
This is the third tuition protest in the past two weeks in Montreal.
Police responded to this protest quickly by ticketing protesters and bystanders for municipal infractions such as marching against traffic, according to the Canadian Press.
David Rankin, one of the student protesters, live-tweeted the evening. He said the police subjected many protesters to kettles – a crowd-control method in which people are penned in small spaces.
He said that when he was standing on a sidewalk, passing officer told him he would throw Rankin in the kettle if he didn’t leave immediately.
“I asked him if he thought that kind of intimidation was justified. He said yes,” one of Rankin’s tweets read.
Rankin took issue with the preventative arrests, saying protesters were peaceful.
“Do you realize the magnitude of what’s happening here? The right to protest—in theory and in practice—no longer exists,” he tweeted.
Police Sgt. Jean-Bruno Latour told the Canadian Press that although the right to free speech exists and people have the right to protest, “every demonstration must happen in an orderly way with respect for citizens.”
Students last year were protesting the provincial Liberals’ proposed annual $325 hike. Over five years, university tuition would have risen from $2,168 to $3,793, according to the official bill.
When the Parti Québécois (PQ) government came into power last September, Premier Pauline Marois cancelled the proposed tuition increases. She told the Globe and Mail that cancelling the increase would allow the government “to bring back peace and re-establish rights and freedoms.”
Rankin said the PQ sparked this round of protests on Feb. 25 by announcing at a two-day summit on higher education that they would raise tuition fees by roughly $70 annually.
Montreal police could not be reached for comment.
