Montreal student rally turns ugly again

Protesters throwing rocks at police on Viger Street during student demonstration outside the Palais de Congrès on April 20. Hundreds of student protesters gathered around the Palais des congres for a second day Saturday outside a hotel where a Plan Nord job fair is underway. (PHOTO BY DARIO ALAYA/MONTREAL GAZETTE/POSTMEDIA NEWS)

(updated at 3:30 p.m.)

POSTMEDIA NEWS

MONTREAL — Hundreds of student protesters gathered around the Palais des congrès for a second day Saturday outside a hotel where a job fair for Quebec’s Plan Nord is underway.

First Nations groups have also set up tents outside the building to protest the event, which aims to recruit manpower for an $80-billion, 25-year development plan for Quebec’s north.

Police blocked the entrance to the convention centre, leaving hundreds of job seekers, CVs in hand, waiting outside.

Those that made it inside before the protest began were eventually led outside.

Small groups of protesters, who are demonstrating against tuition hikes, moved around the area, keeping police busy trying to contain them.

No violence had erupted in the standoff between police and protesters so far, except for tense verbal exchanges. At least one sound grenade was heard.

Police say up to 50 protesters were arrested since the protest was declared illegal shortly before noon ET.

By 1:30 p.m., the situation had calmed and most protesters had dispersed.

The event may go on for a third day on Sunday, organizers said.

Violence at student protests reached new extremes Friday as the latest demonstration against tuition hikes resulted in smashed windows, damaged cars, 14 arrests and six people injured — including four police officers.

Students also demonstrated outside the job fair at the Palais des Congrès — and at least one student was reported injured after clashes with riot police, who used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

“This Plan Nord project is really a plan of piracy, of misappropriation of public funds,” says a statement by CLASSE, the largest anti-hike student group, on its website.

Windows were smashed, a fire hydrant was opened, and cafe tables, planters and traffic cones were overturned to create barricades in the streets outside the convention centre where Premier Jean Charest was set to speak to tout his government’s sweeping plans to develop the resource-rich north.

Charest, whose speech started 45 minutes late, joked with his audience.

“People are coming from all directions to get into the conference centre. They’re looking for jobs . . . For those knocking on our doors this morning, we’ll offer them jobs — as much as possible, in the North.”

For 68 days, 170,000 CEGEP and university students in Quebec have been boycotting classes to protest tuition fee hikes of $325 a year for five years, bringing it up to about $3,800.

The government has refused to budge on the increase, announced in the 2011 budget, saying universities have long been under-funded and students need to pay more of the cost of their education.

But after close to 10 weeks of protests, marches and rallies that have mostly been peaceful and enjoyed public support, the climate has degenerated in recent weeks, with the city’s subway system being sabotaged, cabinet ministers’ offices being ransacked and paint being thrown on storefronts.

The Palais des congrès, where Friday’s violence erupted, is the site of a major science conference, called “From Knowledge to Action,” that is also getting underway this weekend.

The International Polar Year conference will bring together more than 2,000 Arctic and Antarctic researchers, policy- and decision-makers and many representatives from industry, non-government, education and circumpolar communities.

with files from Nunatsiaq News