So I figured I'd give you guys a 411 on the situation here since it might make the media on your end and I'm afraid a 30 second spin is not enough to get the big picture. 100 days ago students went on strike to protest tuition fee hikes. The provincial government tried to compromise but what they were proposing would actually cost more in the end. All this back and forth didn't add up to much and students have been taken to the street to protest.
I've covered a few of these with my camera and let me tell you that for the amount of people showing up, I'm surprised that there isn't more trouble. There has been a demonstration every night for the past 3 weeks and even though our Police Officers are doing a great job of controlling this situation and themselves, fatigue is starting to make their patience very thin.
This Friday the Provincial government passed a new Law which requires for any assembly or demonstration of 50 people or more to be announced 48 hours in advance to be considered legal. Anybody who participates, promotes this demonstration can face fines of 5 to 25 000 dollars.
So this is what happened Friday evening (This is looking at Berri street from South to North):
70 000 people showed up to now protest the fact that conditions have been put in place on one of their Constitutional Right. Considering the number of people showing up at these, I'm surprised on how low the damage is. Businesses actually stay open on the streets where the protests take place and keep serving beer on the terrasse! A Stanley Cup riot creates a lot more damage than all the demonstrations combined so far in my opinion.
Saturday was a bit wilder with people raising barricades and burning construction material in the street. The scene depicted was taken over and controlled by Police within 11 minutes of initial ignition. No one was hurt and you could still get a coffee at the Press Café right next to the fire.
I'm most probably going out this evening again. This will be my 6th time and I feel that things are getting a bit worst. The crowd is not the issue here as 99% of the people are pacific and nice. The danger lies in being at the wrong place when Police show up. Media, even mainstream, as not been given any quarters by Police. So as a citizen photo-journalist I am even more at risk so I'm being careful. Here's a picture of my closest call:
If you want to see more images that date back to mid March, have a look at my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeman04/?saved=1
Gerry
I've covered a few of these with my camera and let me tell you that for the amount of people showing up, I'm surprised that there isn't more trouble. There has been a demonstration every night for the past 3 weeks and even though our Police Officers are doing a great job of controlling this situation and themselves, fatigue is starting to make their patience very thin.
This Friday the Provincial government passed a new Law which requires for any assembly or demonstration of 50 people or more to be announced 48 hours in advance to be considered legal. Anybody who participates, promotes this demonstration can face fines of 5 to 25 000 dollars.
So this is what happened Friday evening (This is looking at Berri street from South to North):
70 000 people showed up to now protest the fact that conditions have been put in place on one of their Constitutional Right. Considering the number of people showing up at these, I'm surprised on how low the damage is. Businesses actually stay open on the streets where the protests take place and keep serving beer on the terrasse! A Stanley Cup riot creates a lot more damage than all the demonstrations combined so far in my opinion.
Saturday was a bit wilder with people raising barricades and burning construction material in the street. The scene depicted was taken over and controlled by Police within 11 minutes of initial ignition. No one was hurt and you could still get a coffee at the Press Café right next to the fire.
I'm most probably going out this evening again. This will be my 6th time and I feel that things are getting a bit worst. The crowd is not the issue here as 99% of the people are pacific and nice. The danger lies in being at the wrong place when Police show up. Media, even mainstream, as not been given any quarters by Police. So as a citizen photo-journalist I am even more at risk so I'm being careful. Here's a picture of my closest call:
If you want to see more images that date back to mid March, have a look at my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeman04/?saved=1
Gerry
