[Onthebarricades] Student revolts, Dec/Jan 07-08

[Andy]

*  CAMEROON:  Students protest blackouts, battle police; two killed by 
police
*  SIERRA LEONE:  Land dispute sparks school student unrest, fifteen police 
injured
*  UGANDA:  Student revolt over water shortage, roads blocked
*  FRANCE:  Riot police attack university occupation at Nanterre
*  QUEBEC:  Students occupt university over fee hike, attacked by police
*  NIGERIA:  Water shortage in school leads to mass unrest, seven school 
buildings burnt
*  NIGERIA:  Shooting by police leads to mass student uprising, attack on 
police station
*  INDIA:  Police attack on adivasi student protest leads to unrest, 
property damage
*  NIGERIA:  Students continue tuition fee protests

[Notice the extreme violence being used by statists in several of these 
stories - live rounds in Cameroon, tasers and pepper spray in Canada, riot 
police in France - it seems intolerance of protest is only getting worse]

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL1211489.html

Cameroon police kill students in blackout protest
Mon 12 Nov 2007, 16:59 GMT

[-] Text [+]
By Tansa Musa
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Police in Cameroon shot dead two students during a 
protest triggered by days of power blackouts in the western town of Kumba, 
state radio and a senior local official said on Monday.
The police officers opened fire as they were pelted with stones and Molotov 
cocktails during the demonstration on Saturday, hitting two students in the 
head and killing them instantly. Another five were injured, one of them 
seriously.
"I am particularly disgusted by the fact that the police used live bullets 
against unarmed student demonstrators," Prince Ekale Mukete, mayor of the 
Kumba 1 district in the centre of the town, told Reuters.
"There are other means of suppressing student protests ... but using 
machine-guns and pistols against students is excessive, barbarous and 
totally unacceptable," he said, urging the authorities in the capital 
Yaounde to discipline the police.
Saturday's protest had been called to demand the release of four other 
students arrested during demonstrations in Kumba earlier in the week against 
local energy firm AES-SONEL, a unit of U.S. power company AES Corp, state 
radio said.
Frustrations had boiled over after a blackout lasting more than 10 days, 
interrupting the students' classes and preventing them from studying, it 
said.
Angered by the killings, local residents later joined the student 
demonstrators and burned down a local government office, the regional 
AES-SONEL office in Kumba and vehicles parked in surrounding streets, the 
radio station said.
Calm had since returned after the detained students were released and local 
authorities met with AES-SONEL officials to try to resolve the power crisis.
The unrest is just the latest uprising against blackouts that have gripped 
the central African country, including Yaounde and the main commercial city 
of Douala, in recent months.
The security forces shot dead three protesters in Abong-Mbang in eastern 
Cameroon in August during a demonstration against a blackout that had lasted 
several days.
(Editing by Nick Tattersall)

http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=071126215705.ob39dspz.php

15 police injured in SLeone high school riot: police
Monday, 26 November 2007
AFP
FREETOWN, Nov 26, 2007 (AFP) - Dozens of secondary school students rioted on 
Monday in Freetown over a land dispute, injuring 15 policemen, police and 
witnesses said.
Francis Mumu, police assistant inspector general, said around 100 students 
stoned nearby houses which they claimed encroached onto the school's 
property.
The riots -- during which a police car was set ablaze -- started on Friday.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/595700

Water scarcity hits Kampala, Students riot
Monday, 5th November, 2007E-mail article Print article

Security officials clear a road that was blocked by rioting students of 
Mitchell Hall, Makerere

By Conan Businge
and Francis Kagolo

KAMPALA city and its suburbs yesterday entered the fourth day without water, 
following bursts of water pumps on Kampala and Jinja roads.

In a press notice, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, said the 
14-inch diametre steel pipe supplying areas of Jinja Road, and a two-inch 
diametre pipe on Kampala Road burst on Friday, cutting off water supply to 
the city its suburbs.
The affected areas are those on Bombo and Gayaza roads, and Jinja Road up to 
Mukono.

When The New Vision toured areas in Kawempe-Maganjo, a 20-littre jerrycan of 
water sold at sh1,000. In Nakawa, the same container went for sh500, Ntinda 
at sh400 and Gayaza, sh600.

The national water authority said repairs had been delayed by the many pipe 
interconnections at Centenary Park and other infrastructure like electric 
cables close to the pipes.

"The situation was further delayed by a whole day shutdown of Ggaba 
waterworks on Sunday, due to installation of a second 10/14MVA transformer 
by UMEME to enhance power supply at the substation," said the notice.

In Makerere University, the water shortage prompted a riot by students of 
Mitchell and Nkrumah halls. The riot that ran for over four hours, started 
at 6:00am.

Students blocked Pool Road and hurled stones at motorists. Four vehicles 
were destroyed. The whole university's water reservoirs had run dry, 
including that of the administrative blocks.

Most university toilets remained unflushed. "We are not animals to live in 
such a filthy environment. This is unfair to us," said a resident of 
Mitchell hall.
Despite pleas from the dean of students, John Ekudu, the students went ahead 
with the riot.

"It is not only this university which is affected. We know how dangerous it 
is to live in a dirty environment," Ekudu said.
It took the intervention of the Police from Wandegeya under the command of 
DPC Godson Nsekanabo, to quell the situation.
By 11:00am, the Police were ferrying water to the university in tank 
vehicles.
The Kampala Extra Police spokesperson, Simeo Nsubuga, at a press briefing 
blasted the university authorities for failing to plan properly.

"Whenever those students riot, they rush to us. This is not our mess. It is 
theirs."

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=30836&sectionid=351020603

French riot police clash with students
Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:43:00

France has 82 universities with 1.5 million students
France's riot police have broken up a blockade of students protesting 
against academic admission reforms in the suburbs of Paris.

Riot police tear-gassed the students of Nanterre University to disperse them 
from the entrance of the university on Monday, AP reported.

The students had voted for the blockade on Thursday to protest a university 
reform passed last summer.

Student unions say the Academic reforms endanger the traditional open 
admissions policy and jeopardize the equality among students, similar to the 
existing situation in the US.

National Union of French Students (UNEF) is also calling on students to join 
the Wednesday demonstration by rail workers and to protest on Friday in 
front of the National Assembly when lawmakers vote the budget for higher 
education.

The indefinite strike, starting tomorrow, will hit French railway while 
metros and busses would join, the following day. Union members at power and 
gas utilities also plan to walk off the job.

Analysts view the strikes as the toughest challenge to President Sarkozy 
since he took office on May 6.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386241.html

Riot police attack the blockades at Nanterre University
Merlin Rouge | 21.11.2007 20:36 | Education | Social Struggles | World
An account from one of those at the blockades, with a few minor edits and 
additions for clarity.

13th November 2007

At least 150 students started the blockade from 7am, at one point the 
blockade of the F building looked to be under threat, but by the time I 
arrived there were easily 250 people blocking the doors. The law students 
threw apples at the pickets but discipline was maintained on the picket 
lines so as not to give the police an excuse to atack. Also once picketers 
went into the crowd the police would have been able to take the doors easily 
. They didn't throw anything once the first group of police arrived and over 
the next 45 minutes more and more police arrived until there were well over 
a hundred, many in full riot gear. There were 12-15 police vans and a dozen 
cars. By this point the pickets at the other buildings had been abandoned to 
support the blockade of building F.

The anti-bloqueurs chanted 'liberte d'etudier' (freedom to study) although 
those at the pickets took up the chant and outsang them. The anti-bloquers 
had also sung the Marseillaise earlier on. Students chanted things such as 
"University: public, free and for the people." "Police, get out of the 
university." There were lots of other chants, there were some anti-police 
chants at first but they were hushed down to avoid provoking them.
One of the things the anti-bloqueurs had been demanding was a secret ballot, 
they had a huge cardboard box and it was passed around while they shouted 
'secret ballot, democracy' they did spoil the gesture by putting in two or 
three ballots each. An hour or so later one of them tried to bring it over 
to the bloqueurs but his nerve was failing and the policemen told him to 
stop being stupid. They also chanted 'go blues' as well. The responses from 
the bloqueurs were generally funnier and certainly showed a lot more 
imagination. At one point the anti-bloqueurs trying to show the blockade was 
undemocratic all raised their hands, unfortunately for them they looked as 
if they were doing Nazi salutes.
As the police lined up the bloqueurs moved up the steps leading to the 
building and linked arms along the top, we stayed that way while more and 
more police arrived. The first police charge was on the left hand side, the 
police mostly just pushed forwards and were pushed back by bloqueuers, there 
were a few baton hits, I got hit a couple of times on the back of the hands 
when I was holding a railing. Some bloqueurs further along on the right were 
hit in the head with truncheons and punches and kicks were exchanged, I 
didn't see anyone get seriously hurt but there was blood on my hands and 
coat that wasn't mine.
The police had clearly been told not to use overarm swings of the 
truncheons. They did try to hit at the knees, but with their shields 
blocking them and us on higher ground they couldn't do this very 
effectively. CS gas was used but I didn't see where, we could all feel it 
burning. Then 30 yards along to the right the police charged us, having 
drawn a lot of us across to the left hand side. They came in two columns one 
pushing in each direction. We were out manoeuvred and they reached the 
building . I think it was then that a group of six to twelve bloqueurs were 
surrounded by police using overarm swings of the batons, the bloqueurs had 
their hands up to protect themselves and the police kept swinging for at 
least a minute. On the left they couldn't push us back far, although it was 
difficult to move across and without breaking the chains or risking being 
grabbed. On the left they stopped, but they drove back the picket on the 
right to clear the entrance.I saw them spray gas at students back where the 
first charge had happened, it was aimed at a few people milling in front of 
the lines and was punitive. There was then a long stand off. Between those 
two charges a groups of people in the crowd in front of the building started 
to chant CRS out this was met with a massive cheer from the bloqueurs.
Myself and the guy next to me began talking to the policemen, asking them 
why they had come, why they were attacking their own children etc? I read a 
bit of my book to them but they didn't like it. We told them that this was a 
democratic decision and that they should not be breaking a strike that had 
been voted for. We asked them why they wouldn't look us in the eyes. I don't 
knwo if that mad it any more difficult for them to attack us or not. The 
other guy asked them about who had sent them and since when had they been 
prepared etc but the guy who responded was pretty evasive, but they were 
definitely called in specially.

The law students were let in in small groups by the police and some teachers 
also went in. A friend of mine tried to go in but he didn't have a student 
ID and was refused entry. None of the bloqueurs tried to enter. Not many 
went in, I was worried that they would drop things on us from the windows 
but they didn't. One girl got hit in the face away from the main struggles, 
she fell to the floor bleeding and the friend leaning over her was hit in 
the back with a baton. The policeman who did it was stopped from striking 
her again and told to stay in his position by another.

As a couple of groups of law students entered,(10 or so) many waving and 
cheering entered some of the bloquers threw earth from the flowerbeds at 
them. The police charged, the bloquers held them back for several minutes 
but the police managed to pull a dozen or so bloquers from the front line in 
total, throwing them to the ground and giving them a few punches kicks or a 
blow from a truncheon for good measure. They didn't hold their line well as 
they advanced and we used a pillar as support, I pushed back at them and 
could probably have thrown one down the steps but then I'd have been inside 
the police lines by myself. But he knew I could have and I was pointed out 
and several of them dragged me to pull me out. As I went down I pushed 
myself along the floor as far as possible so the ones near the front 
couldn't hit me, they yelled at me to stop resisting and I yelled I'm moving 
to avoid getting hit with a baton. I had one with a knee on my chest, one 
with two and a third walked over and tried to knee me in the groin, I closed 
my legs and just about stopped it. They told me if I didn't come back they'd 
let me up so I said I'd go and I was dragged out of the lines.

Most people who were thrown out went back in, but I wasn't feeling too good. 
I was also a bit worried because the guys on the front row had got a good 
look at me because I'd been shoulder to shield with them for 45 minutes so I 
went towards the back of the group of protesters and there were a few people 
who'd been badly gassed. Some people had an anti-tear-gas serum so I helped 
hold his eyes open so we could use it. I had a quick look at the polive 
vehicles, wondering if they'd left them unguarded, I went back towards the 
lines and saw the guy I'd been talking to staggering held up by two people. 
I helped him get to a seat and then we tried to talk to him, the girl said 
he'd been groggy for ten minutes. When the ambulancemen arrived one of them 
told him that it was his own fault. The guy didn't want to go with them 
after that but the girl insisted and the other ambulanceman was actually 
trying to do his job so he got into the ambulance. I saw him later on and he 
was ok.

I walked around to the other side of the former blockade and spoke to people 
there. There were still people on the steps on either side. There were 
roughly three lines of police in front of the building, one facing up to the 
remaining bloqueurs on each side the other facing the crowd, forming a 
square with the front of the building. With the bloqueurs not moving and the 
police seemingly unwilling to have any more conflict everyone just stayed in 
position with regular chants and cheers from the bloqueurs. On the news they 
showed a local communist politician asking the head of the police what he 
was doing. He said the president of the university had called him in to lift 
the blockade and push back the demonstrators and that that was what he had 
done.

The the five main campus buildings connected by an internal corridor were 
all locked up except for a single entrance only teachers accompanied by 
students could go in. I doubt many did, as I walked along the buildings I 
didn't see anyone inside. One window in the English building opened for a 
few minutes and that was it. I left in the afternoon, the campus was in a 
stalemate and the transport strike is due to begin tonight.
Merlin Rouge

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/11/14/4655235-cp.html

Montreal police called in to quell tuition fee protest
By Helen Moka, THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL - Militant student groups protesting tuition hikes in Quebec are 
promising to ramp up their pressure tactics despite repeated clashes with 
police in recent days.
More than 100 students were arrested earlier this week after barricading 
themselves in their junior college in Old Montreal.
Police say the students damaged several walls in one of the buildings, and 
face a host of charges, including public mischief, assault and battery and 
armed assault.
Student leaders claim police used pepper spray and Tasers to break up what 
they said was a peaceful demonstration.
"We find this heavy-handed," said Hubert Gendron-Blais, who heads an 
umbrella association of college and university student unions. "The 
repression we are witnessing is without precedent."
Police were called to the Universite du Quebec in Montreal on two separate 
occasions earlier this week to clear out similar protests there.
Students at a handful of Quebec colleges and universities began a three-day 
strike Tuesday calling on Education Minister Michelle Courchesne to cancel 
the tuition hikes of $50 per semester - or $100 a year - over the next five 
years.
They also want Courchesne to bump up funding for higher education and create 
a day-care system for students who have children.
Courchesne has shown no signs of yielding to their demands, insisting the 
government has offset any negative effects of the hikes by reinvesting in 
student aid.
"Apparently she is (ignoring our) questions without even answering them," 
said Guillaume Potvin, spokesperson for the striking UQAM students. "We're 
going to take measures during the year to get minister Courchesne to answer 
our question properly."
Gendron-Blais says the tense confrontations with police haven't swayed 
student resolve.
He promised that students would multiply their pressure tactics, and he 
didn't rule out a general unlimited strike in the near future.
"We are trying for a gradual increase in the number and radicalism of the 
pressure tactics in order to obtain a better bargaining position with the 
government," he said Wednesday.
Student leaders are planning a large demonstration in Montreal on Thursday 
to close out their three-day strike.
However, plans for a broader strike appear to have only limited support 
among Quebec's student population.
Only about half of UQAM's 40,000 students are currently on strike, while 
student associations at other major universities in Quebec have so far 
balked at the idea of an open-ended walkout.
Quebec students last organized a major strike in the spring of 2005 to 
oppose plans by the Quebec Liberal government to cut $103 million from the 
province's loans and bursaries program.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200711130104.html

Nigeria: Riot - Students Set 7 Hostels Ablaze

Daily Trust (Abuja)
13 November 2007
Posted to the web 13 November 2007
Abuja
Seven hostels in Government Science Technical College, Kumo, Gombe State, 
were on Sunday set ablaze by students in a riot that left six of them and a 
policeman hospitalised.
Also affected were the principal's car, his office and Nigeria's flag, which 
was torn.
Those hospitalised were students who sustained injuries while trying to run 
from the scene and those stoned by their colleagues.
The seventh person hospitalised is a police man, Saidu Galadima, wounded by 
a mob from Kumo town which attempted to join the students.
Galadima, who is receiving treatment at the Kumo General Hospital, told the 
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that stones and sticks were used on him by the 
mob.
A witness who spoke under condition of anonymity told NAN that the major 
cause of the unrest was lack of water in the school.
He said the school with a population of more than 1,500 students, depends on 
two local wells for its water supply.
According to the eyewitness, this had been causing untold hardship to the 
students.
When NAN visited Kumo General Hospital, some of the students hospitalised 
had absconded.
Mr Danladi Mairiga, the Principal of the school, could not be reached while 
somebody who answered his phone said he was still in Gombe.
When contacted, ASP Usman Kamba, the Gombe State Police Command's Public 
Relations officer, said he was yet to be fully briefed and promised that 
newsmen will be briefed soon.
NAN reports that the government is due to receive the white paper of a 
report on the conditions of secondary schools in the state.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200711210874.html

Nigeria: Riot in Yola Over Killing of Undergraduate

This Day (Lagos)
21 November 2007
Posted to the web 21 November 2007
Lagos
There was mayhem in Yola, Adamawa State, yesterday, as Police shot and 
killed one Aminu Babatete, an under graduate of the Federal University of 
Technology, Yola.
Youths in their thousands mobilised themselves and headed for the Jimeta 
divisional police station, in an attempt to set it ablaze.
They were, however, stopped by anti- riot policemen, with teargas.
Hoodlum quickly took advantage of the ensuing confusion to loot shops and 
other business places.
Shop owners and other business outfits hurriedly closed shop and economic 
activities came to a stand still in most parts of the state capital.
No fewer than 25 shops were looted along the Mohammed Mustapha Way 
commercial area, while over six cars and motorcycles believed to be owned by 
police personnel were razed.
Anti-riot policemen in armoured cars were later deployed in major streets to 
maintain law and order.
He added that the police quickly cordoned off the road leading Gurin-Fufore 
to Yola in an apparent move to track down the suspected robbers.
The Commissioner of Police added that it was at this point that the deceased 
in company of another person were driving along the cordoned office the Guri 
Yola road.
"The duo were traveling in a tinted glass car, and when police waved them to 
stop, they refused to stop in about 4 checkpionts mounted and the police 
chased them from Mbamba along the road into the state capital and one of the 
policemen shot at the car" when eventually the collided with the police 
vehicle , he stated.
"The deceased undergraduate, who was driving at the time of the incident was 
hit and died instantly" Mr Okorie added. While describing the shooting and 
the killing as unfortunate, the commissioner of police said the police that 
fired the shot has been arrested and he is to face appropriate disciplinary 
law. Mr. Aloy Okorie said the state police command has completed arrangement 
to pay a condolence visit to the parents of the deceased undergraduate.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/11/24/students_riot_in_india/4237/

Students riot in India

Published: Nov. 24, 2007 at 2:20 PM
GUWAHATI, India, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- At least 100 people reportedly were 
injured in Guwahati, India, as rampaging students burned several buses and 
vandalized shops.

As many as 60 were hospitalized and an indefinite curfew was put in place 
Friday after Adivasi Student Union members rioted when police tried to 
prevent them from marching toward the Assembly at Dispur, The Times of India 
reported Saturday.

The students -- armed with sticks, and bows and arrows -- attacked private 
property, injured a magistrate and turned the area of Dispur to Bashista 
into a battlefield, police told the Times.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200712060311.html

Nigeria: Lautech Students Protest Increase in Tuition Fees

Daily Trust (Abuja)
6 December 2007
Posted to the web 6 December 2007
Yemi Bamidele
Ibadan
Students of Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State 
Tuesday continued protest against the recently increased tuition fees 
announced by the management of the institution.
The protesting students took over the campus and sending away the vice 
chancellor, Professor Bamidele Adeleke from the university premises.
All lecturers and administrative staff on sight were also harassed by the 
students who decried the announced increase in fees which range from N50,000 
to N60,000 from the former N5,000 and N6,000.As early as 7 a.m., the 
protesting students barricaded all roads leading to the university, 
preventing movement to and from campus.
The vice chancellor was said to have run into the students who refused to 
allow him entry, rebuffing all pleas.
The students then went inside the campus to drive away academic and 
non-academic staff who escaped into the premises, locked all offices and 
threw the keys away.
Only last week, the students stormed the office of the state governor, where 
they urged him to intervene in the fees crisis since according to them, 
their parents would find it impossible to pay the new fees.
However, in the course of that protest, the students led by the deputy 
speaker of students' union government Ogunjinmi Olarenwaju said they were 
not treated well by the security team of the governor.