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Several thousand students marched through downtown Montreal on Thursday, demonstrating against government plans to raise tuition for local colleges and universities by more than $1600 over the next five years.
Police say they used pepper spray and stun grenades after a “scuffle” with protesters outside a government building, but one activist who witnessed the events says that students did nothing to provoke the cops.
As noted earlier this week, some activists have called for a third March Day of Action in defense of public education today, building on the protests of March 2 and the high school walkouts of March 11. Today’s actions, whatever they may be, build on yesterday’s protests at the New York state capitol and the ongoing occupation — launched earlier this week — at the University of Minnesota.
I’ve heard about some stuff that’s on tap for this afternoon, but given the nature of the call, I expect that there may be surprises as well.
I’ll be updating as the day unfolds.
Early this morning, as a thousand students and other activists protested at the capitol, New York’s state legislature passed a budget for the coming year that includes deep cuts to education — and a tax break for the wealthy.
As demonstrators chanted, yelled, and negotiated with Albany police over pizza delivery, the two houses of the legislature made their way through the long list of votes required to approve the state’s spending structure. There was no drama in the chambers to match the drama outside, and final approval came without any surprises at about one o’clock in the morning.
A fascinating breakdown and analysis of the demonstrators’ tactics can be found here.
The students occupying a building at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have made it through their first night, and they’ve released a list of demands:
Because we are residents of Minnesota, and because this is a public, land-grant university,
We demand the right to peacefully occupy space at our university,
We demand that the general public has reasonable access to university resources;
We demand that the university respect the rights of all workers to organize and to earn at least a living wage;
We demand tuition and fee reductions;
We demand that regents be democratically elected by the university community;
We demand that the university treat student groups fairly and equitably with respect to funding and space. We demand student groups on the 2nd floor of Coffman Union be able to keep their spaces.
In doing so, we stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin, and students and workers worldwide.
More soon…
A morning rally at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has turned into what organizers are calling an “open and soft occupation” of the university’s Social Sciences Tower.
“Students and community supporters,” a post on the group’s blog declared, “are outraged over soaring tuition, budget cuts, skyrocketing administrative salaries, mounting student debt, attacks on cultural diversity groups on campus, and blatant disregard for workers’ rights across the nation. In light of recent student and worker uprisings around the world, students in the Twin Cities are no longer willing to bear the burdens of the economic crisis while the rich only get richer. Inspired by the actions of students at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Madison, and other campuses around the state, U of M students are standing up against injustices in their own state and their own university.”
The U of M occupiers are allowing other members of the campus community unconstrained access to the Social Sciences Tower, and “planning specific events for the space in order to benefit the entire community.” The building is scheduled to close at 11 pm local time, however, and it is not clear whether university administrators will try to remove them at that time.
As I noted in an earlier post, some activists have declared this Thursday to be a day of walkouts, occupations, and strikes nationwide. It seems that Thursday came early to Minneapolis-St. Paul this week.
Tuesday Morning Update | This tweet just came in from the @umnsolidarity account: “Hey everybody, the doors of the Social Sciences Building are open and Day 2 of the occupation has begun. Come on down!”
Looks like they made it through the night.
Second Update | The occupiers have released a list of demands.
studentactivism.net 
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