Quebec students mark 100 days of fee protests

Tens of thousands of people defied an emergency law restricting protests by marching in Montreal to mark the 100th day of student protests over plans to raise tuition. Protest comes after provincial government passed emergency law to end Canada's most sustained student demonstrations. Demonstrators slowly winded through the downtown streets of Canada's second-largest metropolis on Tuesday, occasionally booing Quebec Premier Jean Charest and his "truncheon law."

With placards in hand, blowing horns and beating drums, festive students and their supporters - some of them first-time protesters angered by the government's recent crackdown - made their pitch for low-cost education accessible to all. "Today, we're all students," Chloe Domingue-Bouchard, a political science student at the University of Quebec, shouted over a bullhorn to the crowd.

"We're here not only to denounce a hike in school fees but also an unjust and brutal truncheon law ... that has turned us all into criminals." Charest is a "tyrant," another protester said.

The new law requires groups larger than 50 to alert police if they plan to hold a demonstration, and provide the location, time and duration of the event ahead of time. It also suspends classes interrupted by the strikes until mid-August.

The measure was passed last Friday in response to ongoing student unrest after students rejected a deal with the provincial government that would have gradually raised tuition fees over a seven-year period, instead of five.

On its heels, the city of Montreal also passed a bylaw prohibiting the wearing of masks after several cloaked protesters smashed storefronts and clashed with police in recent weeks. Those failing to comply with either law face fines.