<div class="field field-type-date field-field-publication-date">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<span class="date-display-single">Thu, 31/05/2012</span> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="glw-authors">By <span class="glwnews-article-location"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4293">Democracy Now</a></span></div><div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<img src="http://www.greenleft.org.au/sites/default/files/imagecache/frontpage-lead-article/students_montreal.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-frontpage-lead-article imagecache-default imagecache-frontpage-lead-article_default" width="140" height="93" /> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>More than 400,000 filled the streets of Montreal this week as a protest over a 75% increase in tuition has grown into a full-blown political crisis. After three months of sustained protests and class boycotts that have come to be known around the world as the "Maple Spring," the dispute exploded when the Quebec government passed an emergency law known as Bill 78, which suspends the current academic term, requires demonstrators to inform police of any protest route involving 50 or more people, and threatens student associations with fines of up to $125,000 if they disobey. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51182" target="_blank">read more</a></p>