Montreal: Cops attack student protest

From Sabotage Media:

Thousands of students coming from all around Quebec took to the streets of downtown Montreal, shouting, because they know that the government likes to be hard of hearing (and yet to see is the day when we realizes it has no ears, it has financial analysts, public relations consultants, corporate sponsors, and loads of billy clubs, no ears), they shout that they wont stand still while the government once again tries to push its agenda of a Quebec for the rich and their guard dogs, and this time on the backs of students and especially the poor and ones from remote towns far from the postsecondary institutions with the massive increase in tuition fees it imposes upon the people.

They left the Chamber of Commerce of Montreal and blocked several streets downtown for a few hours before ending at 500, rue Sherbrooke O. known as the Loto-Québec building, location of (to be closer to their business model?) the offices of the Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities, which a group of students was already occupying. Hundreds of young people stood outside the building in solidarity with their comrades while dancing with drums, chanting slogans and shortly the crackdown began. Police first tried to provoke and intimidate with an arrest, some dirty blows and pointing their weapons and then they deployed without warning a totally disproportionate and brutal force against young demonstrators who posed absolutely no threat to the hundred of heavily armed policemen on the scene. The video we received clearly demonstrates.

University of Puerto Rico Students Clash with Riot Police at University Plaza

From Libcom:

Photo account of the demonstration and attack by riot police during the shut down of the administrative building at the University Plaza of the Rio Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico in the morning of January 13th, 2011.

UPR Students Clash with Riot Police at University Plaza
by CMI-Puerto Rico Friday, Jan. 14, 2011 at 5:38 PM
pr@indymedia.org

Spanish source with photos: http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2011/01/46923.php

Translator’s note: For those who haven’t followed, this is the next chapter in a nine-month-long struggle at the University of Puerto Rico. Since the first 60-day long strike last April, students have used an immense variety of tactics with a range of goals and radical visions just as varied. At this point, dialogue has become less and less of an option and both the students and the police have become more direct and militant in their approach. Whether or not anarchists and radicals would agree with their above-ground pleas for dialogue, their consistency and success at shutting down the university over and over and over (almost becoming a habit) should be inspiring.

The rumor about a possible opening of the enrollment process made its rounds among students since last Tuesday the 11th, the day that the Rio Piedras campus reinstated its strike against the $800 fee. In spite of the ambiguous statements made by the university administration to begin the enrollment process on January 13th, the students decided to mobilize the protest towards the University Plaza, where most campus administrative offices are located.

London: Student rebel undergoes brain surgery after beating from police

A student was rushed to hospital for emergency brain surgery after he was allegedly hit with a police truncheon during last night’s tuition fees protest.

Alfie Meadows, 20, developed bleeding on his brain when he was hit as he tried leave the ‘kettling’ area outside Westminster Abbey, his mother said.

The Middlesex University student fell unconscious on the way to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where he underwent a three-hour operation to save his life.

He was one of 44 people, including six police officers, treated in hospital after London’s most violent night of student rioting over fees.

A further 14 people were treated by paramedics at the scene.

Alfie’s mother, Susan Meadows, 55, an English literature lecturer at Roehampton University, said her son had described the blow to his head as ‘the hugest he had ever felt’.

‘Basically he had a stroke last night,’ she said. ‘He couldn’t speak or move his hand.

‘The surface wound wasn’t very big but three hours after the blow, he suffered bleeding to the brain,’ she said.

‘He survived the operation and he’s in the recovery room.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337468/Tuition-fees-protest-Alfie-Meadows-emergency-brain-surgery-beaten-police.html#ixzz17knYNVTp

Turkey: Police attack student demonstrators

From Libcom:

Police violently attacked to the students in Turkey who wanted to protest the summit of Prime Minister and University Rectors. One pregnant student (age 19) lost her baby because police continuously kicked her from the belly even though she yelled she was pregnant.

Police violently attacked to the students in Turkey who wanted to protest the summit of Prime Minister and University Rectors. One pregnant student (age 19) lost her baby because police continuously kicked her from the belly even though she yelled that she was pregnant. Around 150 students who were coming outside of Istanbul were stopped at the entrance of the city and attacked, beaten and detented by the cops. Many were severely injured. It is claimed even in the right-wing bourgeois media that police used agent orange sprays against the students which was also used by USA army in Vietnam that can cause cancer.

Here are some videos;

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/tekmelerden-bebegini-dusurdu/turkiye/sondakika/06.12.2010/1322941/default.htm

England: Police order shutdown of FitWatch website

From Infoshop News:

The metropolitan police forced the closure of anti-police blog http://fitwatch.org.uk after it published advice for protesters involved in last weeks’ student protests.

The order to shut down the site was sent by Detective Inspector Will Hodgson to fitwatch’s hosts, JustHost.com, claiming that it was attempting to ‘pervert the cause of justice’ by presenting advice to those who may have been involved in last weeks occupation of Millbank, which has already led to more than fifty arrests, and campaigns by newspapers such as the Telegraph to shop students who were involved.

The US based hosting company appears to have shut down the site almost immediately, effective for 12 months, despite having only received an e-mail (to our knowledge there was no court order, and no legal action has been taken against the site’s owners).

San Francisco: Officer draws gun on students as protests against tuition increases heat up: 13 arrested

Video available here. Capitalist media coverage:

SAN FRANCISCO — Questions were being raised Wednesday over whether a UCSF police officer went too far when he pulled his gun on a crowd of angry student protesters earlier in the day during an incident that was caught on tape.

The confrontation happened at UCSF during the first day of student protests over a new plan by UC Regents to raise tuition.

The incident occurred as the main protest took place outside the William J Rutter Center.

But just after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, a group of protesters entered the parking garage. They went to the second floor where the confrontation took place. University of California police were holding the line at a bank of elevators in a campus parking garage.

The protesters were trying to get into the adjacent main building. As the crowd surged, pushing and shoving between students and campus police ensued.

Seconds later, one officer struggled with a student demonstrator before backing off and pulling out his gun.

London: 50,000 march against tuition increases, occupy Tory party headquarters and fight police in the streets

From Occupy California:

LONDON, England – Around 50,000 students marched through London today protesting the tuition increases, a protest organized by the National Union of Students. Thousands of students have since broken off from the main march and raided Millbank Tower, where the Conservative Party is headquartered. Students broke the windows on the main floor, and hundreds filled the lobby of the building. Police beat back the students, but as of this writing, students are still in the courtyard of the building. So far, 5 police have been reportedly injured; a total of 10 police and students have been taken to the hospital. Protesters have thrown bottles and other items, some on fire, at the police line. A bonfire has been lit in the courtyard. Picket signs have been lit on fire. Demonstrators have thrown fire extinguishers and other items at the police from the roof of the Millbank Tower.

Full story

UNO Occupiers to Fight Charges, Support Needed

We still need as many people as possible to call the Chancellor’s office at 504-280-5536 and demand that they drop the charges against the 2 students who were arrested at the protest last week. It is only through letting the administration know that people care that they will stop their baseless accusations that have already been proven to be lies by video and photo evidence.

The corrupt and incompetent UNO administration is trying to cover their own butts by blaming students to keep the spotlight off of them and to protect their friends in the UNO PD who beat students viciously with batons last week. Please spread this request for support calls far and wide.

Media Round-Up:

While the media generally reported the statements of the police as fact and the statements of students, when reported at all, were treated as an afterthought or hearsay, we figured people may want to see how far their actions reverberated across our state on Wednesday. Be proud, those in power definitely heard us, all the way from our campus tucked away at the lakefront. Organize with your friends and make more actions like this happen, and those in power will know that we are serious, we are angry, and we demand a response.

We have also posted more posts on our website Occupy LA, as well as added links to our resources page and a section to our site called “Why Occupy?” Check it out: http://occupyla.wordpress.com

New Orleans: Two Arrests At Budget Cuts Occupation at UNO

Several students were reportedly apprehended by the University of New Orleans campus police after storming the office of the chancellor and getting into an altercation with authorities. The school has seen its budget slashed, faculty laid off and services cut as state legislators look to close a massive hole. Approximately 150 to 200 students protested the massive budget cuts to the university, chanting and demanding changes at the school.

Call University of New Orleans PD at 504-280-6666 and demand they release the 2 arrested students from today immediately. They were maced and beaten, and then arrested, for peacefully protesting! There were a million witnesses to this event that said they did nothing wrong. One has asthma and was severely hurt by the mace. CALL NOW!! CALL OVER AND OVER!! Demand they drop the charges!
Several protesting UNO students arrested after storming chancellor’s office