Student groups in Quebec vow to continue protesting against tuition increases, even if it means breaking a new emergency law aimed at restoring order in the province.
"We will continue to fight, even if there are fines," Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of the student coalition CLASSE said at a news conference in Montreal on Monday.
"This bill is unacceptable," Nadeau-Dubois said of Bill-78, which lays out strict rules for demonstrations involving more than 50 people.
The emergency law, introduced Friday, requires protest organizers to give eight hours' notice for every demonstration, along with a full itinerary.
Nadeau-Dubois said that will not happen. He said students will continue to protest tuition hikes as they have for the past three months.
He and other student leaders said Bill-78 violates their "fundamental rights," is unjust and "probably unconstitutional."
Those who end up getting arrested under the new law "will face (the government) in the courthouse," Nadeau-Dubois said.
CLASSE is also encouraging students who break Bill-78 to post a message with their photo on a new website, .
The coalition's defiant news conference followed another violent night in Montreal.
At least 300 people were arrested and 20 were injured after a police and protesters clashed into the late hours Sunday. Eleven police officers were among the injured.
Riot police used tear gas and sound grenades to break up the protest as windows were smashed and construction cones and signs were thrown into downtown streets.
Despite a new City of Montreal bylaw threatening protesters who wear masks with heavy fines, dozens of demonstrators hid their faces both Saturday and Sunday night.
However, Nadeau-Dubois insisted Monday that students simply want to exercise their right to protest and are not trying to entice unrest.
"We are not calling for violence. We have never made that call," he said.
Student leaders also said they will be reaching out to other activist groups and members of the community for financial support so they can sustain their demonstrations and provide legal assistance to those who are arrested and charged.
A massive march is planned in Montreal on Tuesday to mark 100 days of protest.
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Montreal
