[CHANTING]
NARRATOR: In February of 2012, university and college
students in Quebec began striking against the 75%
proposed tuition hike.
Since the Quiet Revolution in the '60s, low tuition rates
have been part of the socialist package deal
promised to Quebecers.
For student protesters, a doubling of current rates
represents a complete abandonment of the fundamental
ideals of their education system.
To make matters worse, critics see the increase as being more
to do with corruption than the spending within government,
especially since Quebec has the highest income taxes in
the country.
Instead of balancing the books by attacking pensions and
corporations, the government has seemingly attacked the
weakest demographic in the province.
Alienation and apathy has made the movement a rallying point
for youth to rebel against a mostly non-responsive
government, led by their Premier, Jean Charest.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
NARRATOR: Faced with fewer jobs, mounting personal debt,
and the prospect of an aging boomer generation sucking
public coffers dry, and you have a
recipe for civil unrest.
Some romantic types are even calling this Quebec's Spring.
Things seemed destined to come to a head on May Day, as
student unions were set to join other workers groups and
the infamous anarchist black bloc in a crowd of close to
10,000 behind Montreal City Hall.
MARIE: May Day has a long revolutionary tradition.
And we want to remind that to our [INAUDIBLE].
It's about decent housing, decent lives, decent jobs.
And it's about having people before profits.
[CHANTING]
NARRATOR: Once the spirited crowd took off, French
anti-capitalists and "fuck the police" chants were
everywhere, while some talked of riot squads.
[CHANTING]
NARRATOR: Eventually, they made their way to Saint
Catherine Street, the heart of downtown Montreal, where after
one window was broken, everything completely devolved
into chaos.
[CHANTING]
[PUNK MUSIC]
[EXPLOSION]
MALE VOICE: Oh fuck!
Shit!
Fuck!
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
NARRATOR: After an hour-long skirmish between cops and
protesters, everyone regrouped in a downtown park to prepare
for a night march.
STUDENT: It turned pretty violent.
People throwing rocks and stuff.
It was predictable, kind of.
Tonight, I don't know.
So far, it's been pretty peaceful.
I've been to a lot of demonstration at night, and it
was peaceful.
STUDENT: Every week, I think the end is here.
Because every week, I see that the movement is very strong.
But now I'm not sure.
It's long.
It's hard.
But like you can see, it's not over.
It's not over.
So there's no reason that we're going to stop now.
There's just no reason.
You have to fight if you want something.
You have to fight.
NARRATOR: By the end of the day, over 100 people were
arrested, with almost as many hospitalized.
And since May Day, things have only gotten worse.
Small towns have turned into temporary war zones.
There's been smoke bombs in the Montreal metro system.
And clashes between riot squads and
protesters are daily.
MAYOR TREMBLAY: What do you want me to do?
Are we going to stop living?
NARRATOR: The Quebec government even enacted a
draconian anti-protest law, Bill 78.
Which has only served to galvanize movement, and
attract even more followers from all over the world,
including the vigilante hacker group, Anonymous.
The protest shows no signs of slowing down.
In fact, at this point, Quebec is bracing itself for what may
be the longest summer in its history.
[PUNK MUSIC]