We arrived in Montreal on May 23 around 6pm local time.  Until we stepped out of the subway and walked towards our host’s house it was close to 8pm.  While we walked we noticed some people standing in front of their houses or on their balconies, banging on pots and pans.

As we walked on more and more people tuned in to this strange welcome concert.  Some started moving towards street crossings where more and more people gathered, all contributing to more or less the same rhythm.  It felt like the entire city - or at least the neighborhood - was out on the street, organized by some hidden, invisible agenda.  The crowd is composed of youngsters, children, adults, elderly people;  in short: everyone.

Our host later explains the mystery. For more than three months, students in the province of Quebec have been protesting against a raise in college tuition fees.  Students in Montreal go out on the streets every night and attempt to march as many kilometers as possible.

The government’s latest reaction was reviving so called Bill 78, a law that restricts the right to protest.  The controversy is big and many see this action as an attack on constitutional rights.  The ones that feel that what is happening is not right express their anger and frustration by taking part in what they call the ‘casserole'.  Every night at 8pm the action starts.  Contributions now include the tuba player, Mr. base man with his family on the balcony and even voovoozelas (vuvuzelas) that survived 2010’s soccer world cup in South Africa.

The picture here just shows another nice way of protest.

someone stop me

All this happens with people wearing smiles on their faces.  People in passing cars, even buses show their support by honking, waving, banging on their car’s rooftop while passing the scene.

Meanwhile police does what it has been doing since the first policeman arrived on this planet.  They follow the protesters, march around in heavy anti-riot gear, cruise the streets with numerous cars, flashing the night with their blue-red lights and with search-lights from a helicopter about one kilometer above the scene that keeps people awake until late passed midnight.  On some nights several hundreds of students get arrested.  They face fines for trespassing, but so far not for violating Bill 78 since nobody is sure that the law will hold.

If you want to stay in touch, follow Canadian media, follow the students on Twitter and Facebook or come back her since I will write more.  Right now I have to go out on the street since the action is about to start.

Update:  Tonight’s casserole found a rather sudden end by a thunderstorm that reached the city around 9pm.  Still, the original idea was to protest for 15 minutes …