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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
theconcordian
STUDENTS GIVE CHAREST WAKE-UP CALL ON C
oncordia students braved the rain and joined the sea of signs, banners, and bodies in the Nov. 10 province-wide protest against university tuition fee hikes proposed by the Quebec government. More than 30,000 demonstrators from universities across Quebec flocked to Place Émilie-Gamelin before marching their way down Ste-Catherine Street to Premier Jean Charest’s office on McGill College Avenue. The Concordia Student Union organized a pre-protest meeting at 11 a.m. on the Reggie’s terrace with food provided by the People’s Potato, as well as one at Loyola. Buses transported students from Loyola to the downtown campus, and at 1 p.m. the entire group headed to the demonstration’s starting point. Police were present throughout the demonstration. Riot police were called to the McGill campus a little after 5 p.m. to disperse the crowd of protesters in front of the James Administration building, allegedly using excess force and pepper spray to remove demonstrators. Photos by Navneet Pall
Thursday marked larges student strike in Quebe Continued from cover
She explained that students had spilled into the parking lot and onto both Mackay and Bishop Streets, and that the entire second floor of the Hall building had emptied. “It was thousands of people,” she said. As the students marched along the thoroughfare, they were greeted by a host of McGill University students expectantly waiting at the intersection of Ste-Catherine Street and McGill College Avenue, hoisting their own banners and adding their voices to the cries of “We’ll stand! We’ll fight! Education is a right!” proclaimed by the marching crowd. Members of the Occupy Montreal movement also swelled their ranks as they marched onwards to BerriUQAM metro station. A mass of students had already amassed at Place Émilie-Gamelin by the time the host of students arrived around an hour later. “I’m here because I’ve actually been to a lot of these [protests] previously ever since I was in CÉGEP and I had been hoping that those would have been enough to stop [tuition fee
hikes] but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. We’re hoping that this will show the government that there are enough people that are against it and hopefully it will change its mind,” said Alejandro Gomora, a fourth-year psychology student at Concordia. “I want to be a teacher, and I really don’t like the idea that eventually I am going to have to tell my students that as long as you have money you can be whatever you want to be, but if you don’t, well just give up,” first-year child studies student Alexandra Peters added. The provincial government, however, shows no signs of stepping down from the proposed $1,625 hike over the next five years. At question period on Thursday, Education Minister Line Beauchamp remained firm on her stance that university students should contribute more. “A majority of Quebec taxpayers don’t have a university degree and will never earn the salary of a university-educated person — but they finance the majority of the system,” said Beauchamp. “So shouldn’t university students do their part?” PQ education critic Marie