Riot police clad in black tapped their batons against shields and stormed a building at Montreal’s downtown francophone university around midnight Wednesday.
They were called to l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) after protesters barricaded themselves inside the J.-A.-DeSeve pavilion, the same building where 21 arrests were made on Wednesday afternoon.
At least 20 more people were arrested as the midnight occupation was dispersed, and the building was left in such disarray that classes normally held there had to be cancelled. Furniture and vending machines were overturned, walls were covered in graffiti, and glass shards and beer bottles littered the floor.
The arrests earlier in the day occurred after police said they responded to fights. The fights had broken out after masked protesters attempted to intimidate students into leaving classes and joining a boycott, or “strike,” organized by student groups opposed to the provincial budget.
As the cleanup was underway Thursday, some students and professors called on the university’s rector, Robert Proulx, to resign.
One student told CTV Montreal that the university’s use of law enforcement was “criminalizing” her “right to strike.” She said she does not condone vandalism, but that things “can be expected to escalate,” when there is “political repression.”
Professor Michel Lacroix also criticized the university administration Thursday, saying their decisions “are worsening also the relations between the teachers and the students.”
Some professors had attempted to negotiate the release of the 21 people arrested Wednesday afternoon, which Montreal Police Chief Ian Lafreniere called unreasonable.
“You don't punch someone in the face because you've got a different opinion,” he said. “We had to show up yesterday because it was out of control.”
Lafreniere said the fate of those arrested is now in the hands of judges. “It's not a game. It's not a negotiation. It's criminal offences,” he said.
Provincial education minister François Blais told reporters Thursday that protesters have no right to stop students from going to classes, and that Rector Proulx has his full support. “I think the majority of Quebecers support the president today,” he added.
Students, meanwhile, said their protests are far from over. In fact, just as university staff cleaned up J.-A.-DeSeve, a mostly peaceful demonstration was underway. Only one arrest was made, according to early reports.
A return to the Maple Spring?
The number of student protests in the province has escalated since Quebec’s provincial budget was tabled in late March.
The Liberal budget aims to cut costs in order to reduce the gross debt that sat at $197.1 billion one year ago, which was the highest per capita in the country. The province spends $11 billion on interest payments every year.
Thousands, possibly tens of thousands, joined a protest against the austerity budget on April 2 by ASSE, the multi-school association for student-union solidarity.
Earlier in the week, masked protesters disrupted classes at the anglophone Concordia University and blocked the entrances to UQAM.
Wednesday marked the first day of a 10-day injunction UQAM obtained allowing the school to stop student protesters from blocking entrances to buildings.
With a report from CTV Montreal’s Maya Johnson and The Canadian Press