***STOP PRESS: MANY STUDENTS BEING CHARGED BY THE POLICE! DETAILS TO FOLLOW***
On Tuesday, March 25th over one hundred protesters gathered outside of the offices of University of Toronto’s President David Naylor to voice their opposition to a 20% residence fee hike and to police measures used against students during a similar protest the week prior.
In a sit-in protest at the President’s office on the 20th of March several students were illegally dragged from the public building by campus police, injuring several young people. The violence occurred because the assistant to the President, who was inside the building at the time, would not talk with the protesters or address their concerns. Instead, the University’s administration preferred to use force against its own attendees.
The University of Toronto went even further and sent out a press release on the incident that stated several non-student instigators had assaulted police officers. However after several camera phone videos and pictures appeared on the internet, casting massive dispersions on the University’s claim, there was a wave of outrage and organizing amongst the student community. Utilizing their unique connection through online networking sites like Facebook, the Tuesday protest was rapidly organized and, despite snow, rain and hail (and sometimes all three at once) the turnout for the second protest was a massive increase over the first.
Several speakers from the Canadian Federation of Students spoke, however a new facet of these protests was the larger than normal union presence, largely from staff and faculty unions. There is a greater push amongst some youth and student organizations to link the struggle for workers rights with that of students rights.
“That’s the only real way to build a successful movement,” said Luis Granados, a UofT student and Fightback activist, “You have to build the links between the struggles or you risk being isolated.”
The school administration may have made a grave miscalculation by using violence against students as this may be the spark that sets off a new wave of student protest on the UofT campus. Legal action against the administration and the campus police, for their use of force clearing a public building without a court injunction, is pending.
