MONTREAL - Quebec student leaders signalled on Saturday they may be ready to compromise on the core of their dispute with the government -- the province's plan to raise tuition fees.
One student leader, Martine Desjardins, said both sides must be prepared to compromise for the months-long crisis to come to an end.
Another leader, Leo Bureau-Blouin, made headlines on Saturday when he told CBC Radio he would be willing to accept some form of tuition increase.
Bureau-Blouin tried to clarify in an interview later in the day, saying the students are willing to make adjustments if the government is prepared to do so as well.
The comments came as Bill 78, Quebec's controversial emergency law designed to limit the scope of student protests, met more criticism -- this time from Amnesty International.
The human-rights organization said the legislation violates freedom of speech, assembly and movement in breach of Canada's international obligations.
"Bill 78 is an affront to basic freedoms that goes far beyond what is permissible under provincial, national or international human rights laws," Amnesty spokesman Javier Zuniga said in a statement.
"It is unreasonable and unacceptable to require citizens to apply to the authorities in advance any time they wish to exercise a basic human right. Quebec's national assembly should rescind this restrictive law immediately."
The organization first became involved in the conflict in April, when it expressed concern over the tuition increases and called on the government to tone down police measures.
The Charest government originally announced it would hike tuition fees by $325 a year over five years, beginning this coming September.
That would have eventually boosted annual tuition to nearly $3,793 a year in 2017.
The government later offered to spread the total hikes over seven years to $1,778, compensated with cuts to other fees. That would work out to an increase of about $254 a year.
While the proposed hikes would still leave Quebec with some of the lowest rates in the country, the issue has flared into a clash of ideologies. The students have called for a tuition freeze but the government has flatly rejected any idea of that.
The nightly demonstrations against the proposed tuition increases and Bill 78 continued Saturday with thousands of people pouring into the streets of Montreal.
The mood was festive, and the crowd included many families, as people again took to banging pots and pans.
As in previous protests, Saturday's was immediately declared illegal because no route was provided.
Julie Pelletier, 44, said she wasn't sure a resolution on tuition would put an end to the protests.
"It's so much more," she said. "It's the tuition increases... it's also the government in general. There's a lot of people like me that came here, alone, and brought a pot and a spoon."
