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Canadians rally against spending cuts in Quebec

Canadian protest the Quebec government’s spending cuts during a rally in downtown Montreal, Canada, on March 27, 2015.

Canadian protesters in Quebec have staged a demonstration against proposed austerity measures by the provincial government.

On Friday night, more than 1,000 people marched through downtown Montreal in a rally organized by l’Association Générale Etudiante du Cégep du Vieux-Montréal, which had called upon students to boycott classes this week.

The demonstration began at the Emilie Gamelin Park, where protesters chanted slogans denouncing oil companies as they converged on Dominion Square.

Montreal police originally said they would allow the protesters to demonstrate. However, they declared the protest illegal almost an hour into the rally.

Riot police eventually moved in and used stun grenades as well as tear gas to break up the anti-austerity protest and disperse the demonstrators. One person was arrested for an assault on a police officer.

The protest is one of many to denounce the austerity measures introduced by the government of Quebec's Premier Philippe Couillard.

Earlier on Friday, around 100 protesters held a demo in front of the Berri-UQAM metro station, where the participants protested the threatened expulsion of nine students involved in anti-austerity demonstrations back in 2012.

On Thursday, a protester was hit with a projectile during a rally outside of the Quebec National Assembly.

The 18-year-old demonstrator, identified as Naomi Trudeau-Tremblay, says she is considering taking legal action against the Quebec City police.

Students have been protesting across Canada’s province of Quebec since February 2012 in a bid to build pressure on the provincial government to drop a plan to increase tuition fees. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, with many students detained during clashes with riot police.

MP/GHN/HMV


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