Check the first link above for sample comments from the Twitterverse - like this one:
Jacques Villeneuve just went from 0 to stupid in 5 seconds. Vote, complain, and give up? "Quebec born, Monaco raised" pretty much sums it up
Student strike - on summer's edge #13
Sat, 2012-06-09 07:04
#52
Sat, 2012-06-09 09:20
#53
Boom Boom
I'd love to see my province (Quebec) be the first jurisdiction in North America to elimate tuition fees, if that status is still up for grabs...
Sat, 2012-06-09 23:02
#54
[url=http://www.ageflesh.org/ai1ec_event/manif-action-cassons-leur-party/]Man... Let's poop their party![/url]
In the context of the Grand Prix du Canada, let’s poop the party of sex industry clients !
Meet up at Square-Philips, Saturday, June 9th, @ 5 PM – in front of the Sheraton Hotel, a privileged target of those international ass-holes !
********************Men, you will no longer exploit us in peace !
This is a feminist counter-attack !
[url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Protesters+want+Montreal+strip+clubs... want Montreal strip clubs to share the wealth during Grand Prix [/quote]
Sat, 2012-06-09 23:15
#55
At 8:30 pm, a demo began at Crescent and de Maisonneuve - in addition to the usual one leaving from Émilie-Gamelin. Police made targeted arrests of individuals wearing red squares. Jaggi Singh was arrested. CUTV film crew were attacked three times. At de la Montagne and Ste-Catherine, there have been several confrontations between demonstrators and riot cops, both city and SQ. There has been clubbing and tear gassing.
Cops are there in force to protect the Grand Pricks.
There's a decent fairly up-to-date report [url=http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/Montreal/2012/06/09/001-grand-prix-sa..., as well as some photos of Grand Prix demo events:
Sat, 2012-06-09 23:52
#56
SQ and city cops riot troops have just converged, and announced "Partez chez vous! C'est terminé!" Difficult to see who they're talking to, given the presence of demonstrators, tourists, passersby...
Sat, 2012-06-09 23:59
#57
Boom Boom
Here's the link to a bigger photo:
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/556451_233448523438356_717181604_n.jpg
(you can click on the photo directly to make it bigger or smaller)
Sun, 2012-06-10 00:02
#58
Boom Boom
The city will probably be sued no end for targetted arrests. I mean arrested for "wearing a red square"??? Come on!
Sun, 2012-06-10 06:55
#59
Wild evening in my neighbourhood. There were rows of "white helmet" anti-riot police (the black helmets are even harsher; I don't know the actual difference in terms of corps) blocking us from going east or west from the corner of St-Dominique and Beaubien, while another row prevented us from going north to St-Zotique. Other police cars were down at Bellechasse (the last street before the railway tracks separating Petite-Patrie from the Plateau). There was such an outsize police contingent (in a quiet neighbourhood) to keep us from marching to the commercial strip of St-Laurent in La Petite-Italie (Little Italy) extending more or less from St-Zotique to Jean-Talon.
This was an utterly peaceful group, armed only with kitchen vessels and implements (no, not any knives or cleavers) and not one of us had any intention, I am sure, of damaging anything in a zone we all go to in order to shop or enjoy a good coffee.
There is a Grand Prix celebration in the area (though less "posh" than the one on Crescent Street in the western part of the city centre, or even the one farther south on St-Laurent between Sherbrooke and avenue des Pins where there are some glitzy restaurants and bars).
We just banged on pots for a while (yep, a "pot demonstration", but not that kind) and came up with slogans against the Grand Prix, Ecclestone, vroom vroom etc.
Of course there was no violence or vandalism whatsoever. These were people from the casserole groups of Villeray (north of Jean-Talon) and Petite-Patrie (south of Jean-Talon). I've lived in both areas.
Just imagine how much this is costing the city in terms of overtime pay for les flics! For no reason whatsoever - a cop or two to keep an eye on things would have been largely sufficient to prevent any bubbling up of the casseroles.
Sun, 2012-06-10 08:35
#60
Thanks for the reports, lagatta and Unionist! This has been a great set of threads to read and watch for breaking and up-to-date news on the strike. Convinces me more than ever that I really need to learn French, too...sigh.
Sun, 2012-06-10 09:12
#61
Jaggi Singh has confirmed that he was indeed arrested last night and given a ticket for violation of municipal bylaw P-6 ("illegal assembly"). He was released this morning.
Sun, 2012-06-10 11:01
#62
There is a terrific piece posted today on Le Devoir's site. Two journalists from the paper wore red squares to verify how they would be treated by the police in the metro and in parc Jean-Drapeau (site of the Grand Prix).
On the menu: targeted (and repeated) searches not founded on anything resembling "reasonable suspicion" (which now unfortunately appears to be the standard for searches conducted by the police pursuant to their common-law power to "investigate"; see this comment/thread for a bit more info), admissions from the police that they use profiling (duh), insults from the police, refusal to answer legitimate questions about the journalists' detention, actual threats from the police, thwarted only by the chilling effect of cameras (Policeman: "Can I show him what a concentration camp actually is like?"; Policeman's superior: "No—there are cameras."), expulsion without justification from the site, destruction of photos taken on a camera, etc.
Sun, 2012-06-10 13:37
#63
Translating the printemps érable now has a translation of the Devoir article.
As of this writing, the article has been retweeted about 2 000 times on Twitter, and shared 15 000 times on Facebook.
Several "preventive arrests" have been made. A girl scout who works as a volunteer has been arrested on the site of the Grand Prix because a police officer recognized her from a previous demonstration. She had maalox in her bag (is that a crime now?—God forbid we should be able to heal ourselves from police assaults). Other volunteers, upset by her arrest, tried to get the police to release her, without success.
Sun, 2012-06-10 15:47
#64
love is free
these are all things that work to the advantage of the good ones. no question, they're be investigations for months and months following whatever resolution occurs.
Sun, 2012-06-10 15:49
#65
Boom Boom
The two-hour race went without a hitch, the stands were full, and, according to CTV, some protestors face serious criminal charges. A very heavy police presence prevented the strategy of blocking the Metro from taking place. Oh, and McLaren-Mercedes won the very fast race.
Sun, 2012-06-10 23:04
#66
28 Arrests as Protesters, Police, Tangle, Clash Near Grand Prix Parties in Montreal
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Protesters+police+clash+hours/675868...
"Organizers of this weekend's Grand Prix festivities in downtown Montreal saw their worst nightmare play out on Saturday night as protesters and police clashed along one of the city's busiest thoroughfares, trapping thousands of revelers in the middle of recurring episodes of chaos.."
Where Next for the Quebec Mobilizations? - by Richard Fidler
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/650.php
"...A new challenge to the students and their supporters is posed in a strategic debate now developing in nationalist and progressive circles. Essentially, it involves a clash between those who want to put the student struggle on ice in order to build an electoral coalition behind the Parti Quebecois (PQ) or the militants who argue that the future of the movement lies primarily in the development of mass actions in the extra-parliamentary arena. In recent days this debate has gone public, with opposing polemics in the radical and mass media.."
Sun, 2012-06-10 23:21
#67
Boom Boom
Bill Maher had a good comment the other night about Occupy Wall Street - that they need to become the Tea Party of the left, they need to organise, and get elected. That's probably the case here as well - I'd love to see some left wing folks either run or challenge riding nominations in the next Quebec election.
Sun, 2012-06-10 23:33
#68
[url=http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/Montreal/2012/06/10/001-grand-prix-te...'s an update[/url] of some earlier events today, inclluding the 34 "preventive arrests" (i.e., arrests of people who are not suspected of having committed any unlawful acts), and brutal assaults against demonstrators in the vicinity of the obscene F1 Grand Prix events.
This evening, another illegal demonstration, the 48th in a row, is proceeding in downtown Montréal. Demonstrators have been pepper-sprayed, and an unknown number haver been arrested.
Mon, 2012-06-11 08:59
#69
[url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Seeing+Ferrari+gets+pass+squares/676... New Montréal[/url] - keeping the city safe for sex-racing-alcohol tourism:
A young American journalist said he was searched three times by police before being forcibly removed from the park site and escorted back by police on the métro. “I’ve never seen this kind of repression,” he said.[...]
A group of South Shore women who were downtown Saturday night celebrating a birthday had an unfortunate skirmish with police that resulted in one ticket of $450 for one and the arrest of another.
The women said they weren’t wearing red squares but when one of them didn’t move quickly enough when asked to cross Crescent St., she was pushed by an officer. The others asked why this happened and then, they say, the group of five women was targeted “by an extremely aggressive officer.”
“It’s disgusting; we were all traumatized,” said one of the women, who didn’t want to be identified.
A witness said the police were unnecessarily harsh.
“There was no provocation,” Ryan Brownstein said. “When one of the women asked why this was happening, the officer said: ‘This is how we do it in Montreal.’ ”
Mon, 2012-06-11 09:16
#70
Bill Maher had a good comment the other night about Occupy Wall Street - that they need to become the Tea Party of the left, they need to organise, and get elected. That's probably the case here as well - I'd love to see some left wing folks either run or challenge riding nominations in the next Quebec election.
In order to get elected, it will become necessary to lay sufficient enough homage and sacrifice upon the altar of Capitalism, lest yer own carcasses be picked over for carrion by the corporate media buzzards. Similar to the former high-falutin ideals of the CCF/NDP, which were fed into the meat grinder of contemporary politics, where beaks and assholes are blended together until it all reaches the consistency of a quivering blob.
Mon, 2012-06-11 09:23
#71
Boom Boom
Someone piss on your cornflakes this morning, SJ? 
Mon, 2012-06-11 09:45
#72
No, not at all BB. Wonderful morning here on the east coast. Just reading the morning entrails is all, otherwise known as the day's news.
Mon, 2012-06-11 12:01
#73
Bill Maher had a good comment the other night about Occupy Wall Street - that they need to become the Tea Party of the left, they need to organise, and get elected. That's probably the case here as well - I'd love to see some left wing folks either run or challenge riding nominations in the next Quebec election.
I believe that if you look at the opening post you will see that some people are already doing it. The NDP in the past had MP's who believed in going to jail with others for acts of civil disobedience over certain issues. Sven got arrested for defying an injunction at Clayoquot Sound. The new breed of NDP MP's can't even walk the streets banging pots with their neighbours. The imposition of permanent martial law in Quebec would seem to me to super cede any narrow definition of federal versus provincial matters. If the party was serious about building a grass roots organization its MP's would be walking in the streets and that IMO would be the most effective membership recruiting they could do. They could refuse interviews except to say they are in the streets to support the people who oppose a law that most scholars believe violates the Constitution.
Mon, 2012-06-11 12:29
#74
Boom Boom
NDP MP Jonathan Genest-Jourdain is involved in the fight against uranium mining in Cree territory in Quebec. He's also been involved in protests against the Romaine Hydro Project (part of Plan Nord) not far from where I live.
Mon, 2012-06-11 19:06
#75
Good to hear. That is a pleasant contrast to the Sask NDP who helped develop the uranium mining industry in their province.
Mon, 2012-06-11 19:51
#76
Doesn't hydroelectricity generally speaking require water, and therefore the land it runs over, to rise and fall? :D
Mon, 2012-06-11 19:53
#77
Boom Boom
I'm curious, as I haven't been there for quite a long time - how much potential is there for hydroelectricity in Saskatchewan?
ETA: that leads to my second question - what's the main source of electricity in Sask?
Mon, 2012-06-11 19:56
#78
Boom Boom
No rivers that can be dammed in Sask? 
Mon, 2012-06-11 20:26
#79
[url=http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1209659--quebec-protester-arr... protester arrested on way to sister’s funeral[/url]
A Quebec student activist was arrested while heading to his sister’s funeral Monday, an act his lawyer described as “completely inhumane.”
Mathieu Girard is the person who had discovered the lifeless body of his sister, who died unexpectedly.
On Monday, Girard was riding with relatives when he was pulled over on the highway on the way to Saguenay, Que., for the funeral. He was stopped near Montreal.
Girard’s lawyer said he could face criminal-mischief charges for acts committed during student protests. Lawyer Veronique Robert, who represents many protesters, said [b]people accused of mischief will usually receive a summons by mail or be asked to sign a promise to appear[/b].
“Nothing justifies an arrest like this on Highway 20 — especially given the fact that he was on his way to his sister’s funeral and the police officers knew it,” Robert said in an interview.
“That’s not how you arrest someone for mischief. These aren’t people wanted for murder."
Mon, 2012-06-11 20:37
#80
[url=http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1209659--quebec-protester-arr... protester arrested on way to sister’s funeral[/url]
A Quebec student activist was arrested while heading to his sister’s funeral Monday, an act his lawyer described as “completely inhumane.”
Mathieu Girard is the person who had discovered the lifeless body of his sister, who died unexpectedly.
On Monday, Girard was riding with relatives when he was pulled over on the highway on the way to Saguenay, Que., for the funeral. He was stopped near Montreal.
Girard’s lawyer said he could face criminal-mischief charges for acts committed during student protests. Lawyer Veronique Robert, who represents many protesters, said [b]people accused of mischief will usually receive a summons by mail or be asked to sign a promise to appear[/b].
“Nothing justifies an arrest like this on Highway 20 — especially given the fact that he was on his way to his sister’s funeral and the police officers knew it,” Robert said in an interview.
“That’s not how you arrest someone for mischief. These aren’t people wanted for murder."
Pack the courthouse!
[url=https://www.facebook.com/events/408800205825521/]Vigile de Solidarité le 12 juin[/url]
Cette situation doit être dénoncée par un support immédiat de nos communautés et réseaux. La solidarité est notre réponse. Demain, le 12 juin à 14h Mathieu comparaîtra au Palais de Justice, où il sera informé de ses accusations et s'il sera remis en liberté. Rejoignons nous devant le Palais de Justice à 13h, nous rentrerons ensuite ensemble dans la salle. Amenez vos pancartes et bannières.
Mon, 2012-06-11 20:49
#81
The Star article didn't make this clear, but yes, Mathieu's arrest [b]prevented him from attending his sister's funeral[/b].
The rest of the family had continued on to Chicoutimi for the funeral, but not him.
[...]
According to his lawyer, Mrs. Véronique Robert, the young man was devastated that the police had stopped him from going to the funeral and had begged to see his sister one last time.
[url=http://www.quebecprotest.com/post/24903237409/student-protester-arrested... protester arrested en route to his sister’s funeral (La Presse)[/url]
Mon, 2012-06-11 21:08
#82
No rivers that can be dammed in Sask?
Not many.
"The Coteau Creek Hydroelectric Station has three 62 net MW vertical turbine-generator units, commissioned in 1958."
Mon, 2012-06-11 21:59
#83
Watching tonight's by-elections on the DGEQ website, the Liberals have won LaFontaine (though with a 20-point haircut from their result last time), and the PQ is currently holding onto a squeaker of a 45-vote lead in Argenteuil after trailing all night.
Mon, 2012-06-11 22:08
#84
love is free
hoohoo, we'd love to see the plq lose argenteuil !! http://monvote.qc.ca/partielles/fr/mobile/resultats_prelim.asp?circ=518
Mon, 2012-06-11 22:20
#85
The PQ has pulled ahead to a 396-vote advantage. Electoral geeks: Any ideas why the Liberal precincts might have reported first? In the US, there are usually concrete reasons for Democrats trailing in the vote counting, like poor and heavily African-American precincts reporting late...
Mon, 2012-06-11 22:21
#86
love is free
still 50 polls out, but the pq candidate has a 400 vote lead, i'm calling this for the opposition. wOOt! lafontaine was an impossible task, but this one is very very dark news for charest and his gang, and i bet he takes the message... hopefully with a shock resignation.
Mon, 2012-06-11 22:25
#87
The last thing we want is Charest to resign, making room for a new, more popular leader...Charest is the opposition's best asset right now. Fortunately, the worst politicians always seem to have egos that prevent them from stepping down before they're removed...
Mon, 2012-06-11 22:58
#88
Boom Boom
So, if the PLQ loses, we'll have Premier Pauline Marois? 
Mon, 2012-06-11 23:06
#89
love is free
with nearly all the polls in, the pq victory margin looks to be almost exactly 500 votes. so the plq has lost a riding that they've held for almost 50 years, one of the safest plq ridings in the province. uhhh...
new mna is a 71-year old journeyman instructor hardcore independence activist, the sort of candidate parties throw up in hopeless ridings. http://rolandricher.org/page/biographie
hilarious. i doubt "panic" is too strong a word to use when describing the overriding feeling at the next plq caucus meeting. a victory for the student movement, for sure.
Mon, 2012-06-11 23:14
#90
Heard on Radio-Canada: Jean Charest was in Argenteuil, to celebrate his candidate's victory!
Amènes-les tes élections, Charest!
Mon, 2012-06-11 23:14
#91
That's all, folks:
Nombre de bureaux de vote : 180 / 180
Richer, Roland (P.Q.) 6 568 36,16 % 501
Proulx, Lise (P.L.Q./Q.L.P.) 6 067 33,40 %
Laframboise, Mario (C.A.Q.) 3 887 21,40 %
Sabourin, Claude (P.V.Q./G.P.Q.) 543 2,99 %
Zanetti, Yvan (Q.S.) 490 2,70 %
Sabourin, Patrick (O.N.) 243 1,34 %
Lecavalier, Jean (P.CO.Q.) 190 1,05 %
Lapointe, Georges (IND) 151 0,83 %
Nicolas, Gérald (É.A.) 26 0,14 %
Mon, 2012-06-11 23:15
#92
OK, this is some serious thread drift, but what the heck: my favorite part of today's election is that Mario Laframboise, former bloquiste, reborn a caquiste, putatively a "star candidate", whose victory was assured according to François Legault........ is in 3rd place (and 2 180 votes/12% behind the PLQ).
Mon, 2012-06-11 23:18
#93
OK, no, I lied. My favorite part is that the PLQ lost.
Mon, 2012-06-11 23:42
#94
Boom Boom
A friend in Montreal is writing to me about two CUTV reporters that were pepper-sprayed this weekend although they were wearing very visible 'press' tags. Wouldn't this kind of outrageous police conduct be appropriate to bring before the courts?
Tue, 2012-06-12 00:13
#95
Bill Maher had a good comment the other night about Occupy Wall Street - that they need to become the Tea Party of the left, they need to organise, and get elected. That's probably the case here as well - I'd love to see some left wing folks either run or challenge riding nominations in the next Quebec election.
I believe that if you look at the opening post you will see that some people are already doing it. The NDP in the past had MP's who believed in going to jail with others for acts of civil disobedience over certain issues. Sven got arrested for defying an injunction at Clayoquot Sound. The new breed of NDP MP's can't even walk the streets banging pots with their neighbours. The imposition of permanent martial law in Quebec would seem to me to super cede any narrow definition of federal versus provincial matters. If the party was serious about building a grass roots organization its MP's would be walking in the streets and that IMO would be the most effective membership recruiting they could do. They could refuse interviews except to say they are in the streets to support the people who oppose a law that most scholars believe violates the Constitution.
To be fair, (and I've been one to criticize the NDP from moving away from its activist roots) I do know that Boulerice & Peclet have marched in Montreal. Boulerice even denounced Loi 78 on social media I think. There were even a couple of ONDP MPPs at some of the casseroles marches in Toronto.
Tue, 2012-06-12 01:34
#96
Kind of glad to see Jean Charest lose Argenteuil. The PLQ may win it back during the next election when the regular proportion of the electorate votes, but for now it may provide Charest with a needed wake-up call.
It might also shake things up down the road at the federal level to see the PQ win the next election. I can't say it would bother me that much if they did.
Tue, 2012-06-12 07:02
#97
I felt a twinge of schadenfreude over that useless Laframboise and the Liberal loss in Argenteuil, but I'm sure everyone realizes that this is Québec, and all the results could be jumbled and reversed next time round. In any event, the students' struggle (which this thread is supposed to be about) will not be won or lost in any general election, contrary to what Liberal cabinet ministers and the MSM have been repeating mindlessly.
It won't be won or lost in the courts, either, but today Superior Court will hear the request of the student associations, supported by the trade unions, to suspend the application of Bill 78 until the full constitutionality issue can be heard in July.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2012/06/12/002-conflit-etud...
Tue, 2012-06-12 09:52
#98
Pack the courthouse!
[url=https://www.facebook.com/events/408800205825521/]Vigile de Solidarité le 12 juin[/url]
Cette situation doit être dénoncée par un support immédiat de nos communautés et réseaux. La solidarité est notre réponse. Demain, le 12 juin à 14h Mathieu comparaîtra au Palais de Justice, où il sera informé de ses accusations et s'il sera remis en liberté. Rejoignons nous devant le Palais de Justice à 13h, nous rentrerons ensuite ensemble dans la salle. Amenez vos pancartes et bannières.
Here's a bit of an update from the Facebook event page:
Il est effectivement possible que Mathieu comparaissent en avant-midi plutôt qu'à 14h. Bien qu'avec les délais habituels de ce genre de comparutions, les heures qui nous sont écrites sur le rôles soient très approximatives.
Quoi qu'il en soit, le temps qu'il soit libéré, si tel est le cas, il sera très heureux de voir des gens qui l'attendent à la sortie en début d'après-midi.
Nous sommes désoles des informations contradictoires qui ont circulées concernant l'heure de la comparution, vous comprendrez que tout ceci est organisé dans un très bref délais et que les informations nous arrivent aux compte-gouttes. Et puis, même si Mathieu est libéré avant 13h, il est plus que pertinent de faire cette vigile afin de dénoncer les arrestations abusives des derniers jours, les menaces, l'intimidation et la répression clairement politique dont a fait preuve le SPVM dans les derniers jours.
Liberté pour tou.te.s les arrêté.e.s!!!
I don't know if this story got passed over in the by-election thread drift, but I am feeling so furious and heartbroken - although not surprised - by the SQ's cruelty in this case. If I were in Montreal today, I would certainly be in attendance at Mathieu's hearing at the Palais de Justice. (see posts 78-80 for background)
Tue, 2012-06-12 12:29
#99
To be fair, (and I've been one to criticize the NDP from moving away from its activist roots) I do know that Boulerice & Peclet have marched in Montreal. Boulerice even denounced Loi 78 on social media I think. There were even a couple of ONDP MPPs at some of the casseroles marches in Toronto.
Excellent that is exactly what they should be doing. The party needs activist MP's to remain relevant to any of the left wing movements currently unfolding.
Electoral politics can help by enacting laws with progressive intent but real societal change can only occur from the bottom up. People make change not politicians. Good left wing politicians try and enhance the peoples ideas by walking a mile in their footsteps, with a casserole in hand, not lead the parade down a police sanctioned route to a fenced protest area away from sight.
Tue, 2012-06-12 13:40
#100
Student Protester Arrested En Route to His Sister's Funeral (La Presse)
http://www.quebecprotest.com/post/24903237409/student-protester-arrested...
"Taking advantage of the fact that his sister had passed away and that he had to go to her funeral in Chicoutimi, the police have just stopped a student protester that they have had their sights on for quite some time. With the death of his sister and her funeral, the investigators saw a chance to finally apprehend this student, preferably after he had left town.."
Tue, 2012-06-12 20:25
#101
Boom Boom
