International Student protests 2007

• 08/11/2007 Students in Columbia (U.S. of A.) are on a hunger strike for a more progressive university, that focusses more on the needs of students, giving them a stronger voice and provide more space for critical studies. They want to change the university into becoming a more democratic space. To support the students you can sign a petition here. (CB9M.Blogsport.Com)
  
• 07/11/2007 More than 2,000 students protested in Landau, a small town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate) against the miserable conditions at the towns university. More than 6,000 students attend the campus, although it was initially built for just 3,000. (SWR.De, Hessen.Uebergebuehr.De, YouTube.Com)

• 06/11/2007 After a general assembly around 300 students spontaneously went on a demonstration in Frankfurt/M (Germany) towards the Hilton Hotel were at that time Mr. Corts (Minister for Science and Arts in Hesse) and Mr. Koch (PM of the state of Hesse), both members of the conservative party (CDU), attended the Transatlantic Conference, to protest against the recently introduced tuition fees and the continued efforts to privatise education. A helicopter was used by the police to trace the crowd. (De.Indymedia.Org in German)
   
• 01/11/2007 The struggle against increasing tuition fees continues in Africa as well. About 150 students were arrested at a South African university overnight in the latest in a series of violent campus protests.
  About 1,000 students of the University of Limpopo's Turfloop campus in the north of the country went on the rampage, breaking windows and throwing stones at passing cars late on Wednesday (30/10/2007) evening.
  Students at two Johannesburg universities have been protesting over fee hikes since last month, and police has been using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse them. (MG.Co.Za)
  
• 31/10/2007 Today dozens of graduate students protested high fees in Florida. The protest was organized by Graduate Assistants United (GAU), a labor union made up of UF teaching and research assistants. Around 50 protesters dressed in Halloween costumes, handed out candy and held up signs that said "$30,000 in late fees = treats for Tigert Hall."
  They also left for UF administrators a petition with about 250 names of students who support making fees payroll deductible.
  Seferian said graduate assistants are charged fees at the beginning of the semester. Costs vary, but fees are usually about $400. In a survey conducted by the GAU, around 62 percent of about 800 surveyed said they did not know they had to pay fees before coming to the university. Because of this, Seferian said, many students end up having to pay a $100 late fee. GAU hopes to make a fees payroll deduction system that would allow students to pay gradually, he said. Eventually, the union would like for the university to waive the fees. "This is not an unusual request," he said. "We're not demanding for them to get rid of them overnight." Haha, well, you should!! (GainesVilleSun.Com)
  
• 23/10/2007 Graduates are having to pay double the rate of interest on their loans compared with last year. The Student Loan Company has put the interest rate up from 2.4 per cent to 4.8 per cent making it the highest rate since 1991. It means that a graduate who went to university in London and borrowed the maximum of £17,970 would be paying back an extra £400 a year. Now students are hoping an online campaign will help reverse the Student Loan Company's decision. So far 15,000 people have signed up to the Facebook group 'The Student Loans Rip-Off'. Last month a similar group helped reverse the decision of HSBC to cut interest-free overdrafts for graduates. (DailyMail.Co.UK)
  
• 18/10/2007 More than 1,500 students marched through central Athens and 1,000 students in Thessaloniki to protest the government's plans to end a state monopoly on higher education.
  In the spring, the government tried to push through legislation allowing private universities to operate, but stiff public and political reaction forced a delay. Ending the state's monopoly on higher education would require a constitutional change.
  Students also oppose a law passed earlier this year which forces them to complete their studies within specific deadlines. The law also reduced Education Ministry oversight at state universities, which were granted greater autonomy to run their own financial and organizational affairs. (IHT.Com)
  
• 17/10/2007 UNIVERSITY of Johannesburg students who protested against a proposed 14% increase in first-year fees yesterday received backing from the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu's) Gauteng chapter.
  Last week's violent protests on the university's campuses, during which 40 students were arrested by police, followed a few days of violent protests at the nearby University of the Witwatersrand, also over proposed fee increases.
  The proposed 14% increase in first-year fees, and the 8% increase in fees for second- and third-year students, flew in the face of the promise made in the Freedom Charter of the African National Congress that education would be free, compulsory and equal, Mgcina (secretary of Gauteng Cosatu's) said.
  "They make higher education impossible for thousands of children of African and working-class families and are against the mandate to transform education in the interests of the majority," Mgcina said.
  The universities' government subsidy had declined in real terms over recent years, said Kriek and Wits spokesman Shirona Patel. (Calibre.MWorld.Com)
  
• 17/10/2007 Some 3,500 - 4,000 university and college students protested against government plans to introduce tuition fees for all but the best students in Budapest (Hungary) in a torchlight demonstration.
  Organisers noted that similar albeit smaller protests had already been held in 12 other cities and towns. Norbert Miskolczi, chair of the National Conference of Student Authorities, said they had brought 1,200 torches, all of which were in use.
  The demonstrators crossed one of the Budapest bridges and marched to the Education Ministry in the downtown area. (BudapestTimes.Hu (I), II)
  
• 09/10/2007 A petition was handed over to the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster (Germany) to take legal action against the introduction of tuition fees refering to the 'International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' (United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [UNHCHR]) which was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, where it says:
  "2. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, with a view to achieving the full realization of this right:
  (...) (c) Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education".
  Source: UNHCHR.Ch
  This agreement issued by the United Nations was signed and ratified by Germany in 1973. 14,000 individuals signed the complaint in support and about 250 students symbolically marched through the city to demand free access to education for all.
  In the end the court ruled that this UN agreement is not binding for Germany. (De.Indymedia.Org)
  

• 09/10/2007 Four people were injured and 38 students arrested during protests by University of Johannesburg students today. The students were protesting against a 14% fee hike proposed by the institution as a means of harmonising staff and academic salaries. Police spokesperson Constable Sefako Xaba said police were guarding the institution because the management had an interim interdict to prevent the disruption of academic activities, damage to the university and the intimidation of students and staff during the protest. "We arrived at the institution's premises at 6am on Tuesday. Students came and blocked all the entrances. Rubber bullets were fired at them after they became violent and pelted police and motorists with stones," he said.
  Students outside the Doornfontein campus demanded that police leave the premises because three students had been injured during the shooting. The university's house committee chairperson, Tebogo Motlana, said police attacked them inside their rooms in their residences.
  "Three students were taken to hospital in critical condition after they were shot for no apparent reason. We became violent after they just opened fire on us," Motlana said.
  Margaret Pitse (31) was shot by police outside the Robin Crest residence in Saratoga Avenue during the student protest, bringing the number of injured people to four. Pitse was with her sisters walking to their home in Bertrams.
  Castro Ngobese, national spokesperson of the Young Communist League (YCL), said the organisation condemned the arrest of the students. As the YCL we strongly believe that students have every right to defend access to education and that this should be protected," he said.
  Ngobese said they were against a fee increment because most of the institution's students were from poor families who could not afford to pay high and unreasonable fees.
  The university's Doornfontein and Auckland Park Bunting Road campuses were closed following the student protest action, and were expected to remain shut on Wednesday, the university said.
  On Tuesday afternoon, students were chanting songs and protesting inside the Doornfontein campus under heavy police guard and no violent attacks were reported. (MG.Co.Za (I), II)
  
• 08/10/2007 Students in Johannesburg (South Africa) protested against tuition fee inceases. Police used water spray on University of Johannesburg (UJ) students who were shaking the entrance gate to the Kingsway Campus on Monday afternoon. Students earlier said they were going to break the gate down if they were not allowed access to the campus. Police were guarding one side of the entrance and the other side was manned by security guards, including a group of men dressed in black who refused to identify themselves.
  Security guards would not give a reason why the gates were locked. Some of the students barred from the campus had tests and exams to write on Monday. Meanwhile, a protesting student was "slapped" by police, according to students and journalists. Marshals at the protest had managed to get the angry crowd of protesters to turn away from the police. About 200 students from the Doornfontein and Soweto campuses earlier arrived in buses to join the protest against fee increases.
  "All of these take place at a time when the Department of Education subsidy remains pegged at 5%. This means that the university must complement the subsidy by adjusting its other income," Cronje said. (MG.Co.Za (I), II)
  
• 05/10/2007 Students of Fourah Bay College in Freetown (Sierra Leone) have protested the high fees and deplorable conditions in the college. The students have called for a review of registration fees, tuition fees, computer fees, cost of ID cards and fees they pay for what is called "faculty development, which the students say is not used for any feasible project. All the fees and charges have been increased which has made the situation in the college unbearable. (AllAfrica.Com)
  
• 03/10/2007 Hundreds of students from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (South Africa) protested against fee increases of up to 18% by storming into lecture theatres, disrupting classes and chasing lecturers earlier in the week. Police used rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of students throwing bricks and stones at motorists at the university. Two students, the Student Representative Council president and deputy president, were arrested during the incident. (MG.Co.Za (I), II)
  
• 26/09/2007 Scores of students from Accra City Campus of the University of Ghana boycotted lectures to demonstrate ahainst their exorbitant tuition fees. The students numbering about 4,000 demanded the government to subsidize the tuition fees. The President of the Student Representative Council (SRC), Daniel Korshie Adraku noted that the issue of high fees had persisted for four years without any fruitful results. "We are told by the University authorities that the subsidy from government is minimal hence students are made to foot the remaining precentage. Students however find it unbearably expensive," he said. He added that the high fees at the City Campus have pushed many students out of school and other to defer their studies. He emphasized that these charges had put City Campus above the reach of the ordinary Ghanaian student. (AllAfrica.Com)
  
• 21/09/2007 The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is mobalizing its members for a national class boycott after authorities raised tuition fees for the second year running. From paying Z$60,000 per semester, students will now have to fork out Z$10 million. Students were already failing to pay the fees increased last year and the fee structure being imposed on them this year is set to make things worse.
  Although the ZINASU national executive has already endorsed plans for the class boycott several of its leaders remained mum on when it will begin. The obvious plan seems to be not to give too much away to state security agents, who have a habit of brutally suppressing any protest.
  The boycott by the students will be accompanied by demonstrations on campus, according to union leaders. ZINASU Secretary General Beloved Chiweshe told Newsreel government is practising double standards in proclaiming it was slashing prices of basic commodites and yet is raising tuition fees for students. (AllAfrica.Com)
  
• 15/09/2007 Students staged a demonstration against the privatization of single technical college of Azad Kashmir in Rawalakot, Pakistan.
  To express solidarity with the students of PolyTechnique the students of Boys College also boycotted their classes. According to the details Khan Sahib Poly Technique was taken from the control of the Department of Education and was privatized and handed over to the Tuta Company. In protest students of PolyTechnique and Boys College staged a rally during which a heavy contingent of police was present. (PakTribune.Com)
  
• 10/09/2007 Students at the Polytechnic of Namibia staged a three-hour protest demanding the management to stop ignoring their problems. Their concerns range from students being kept out of examination even when they owe the institution as little as N$5, and annual tuition fees increases to high library fees.
  Student Representative Council (SRC) president, Hileni Shikwambi, outlined that in June/July this year a decision was implemented to bar students who owed the Polytechnic from sitting examinations.
  They also expressed concern over the annual rise of tuition fees, adding that the fees were increasing without considering affordability by the students. They demand the withdrawal of the decision taken to increase tuition fees for 2008.
  "We condemn the decision that was recently taken to increase courses in every school of study, we were even informed that it's a profit-making strategy," said an angry student. (AllAfrica.Com)
  
• 29/08/2007 Around 300 student activists representing the Students Federation of Thailand (SFT) and different universities gathered in front of parliament to demand withdrawal of the King Mongkut's Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMIT-NB) University Privatization Bill and other university privatization bills.
  The students asked National Legislative Assembly (NLA) members to come out to receive a letter containing the group's demands. However, there was no response from the NLA. One hour later the students then moved to block the road in front of parliament house despite the heavy downpour. Another hour later they moved to close U-Thong intersection, while police negotiated with them not to block the traffic.
  The students agreed to withdraw, but on condition that they could enter parliament house to escape the heavy rain. At the same time the superintendent used an amplifier to denounce the students and ordered the arrest of student leaders. The students reacted by linking arms to prevent the police from arresting anyone.
  In the end they still managed to arrest one student who was later on released again. (Prachatai.Com)
  
• 23/08/2007 More than 1,000 students from 14 universities protested in Colombo (Sri Lanka) against privatization plans of education and to urge the government to stop actions to curb student protests. The crowd walked towards the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's office. The students clashed with the police as they used water cannon and tear gas. The protesters blocked the main highway for over three hours forcing the closure of the road. (canindia.v1.papiervirtuel.com [CanIndiaNews.com], BBCSinhala.Com)
  
• 26/07/2007 Confined and crammed in a small cage, members of Youth Against the Debt in the Philippines [YAD] dramatized the county’s incarceration to students' grave debt problem describing it as one of the obstacle why attainment of genuine economic development and distribution of much needed social services like education are negligible.
  The anti-debt youth activist conducted the dramatic action one day shy of Mrs. Arroyo’s seventh State of the Nation Address [SONA].
  The youth stated that the Philippine education is long-suffering from chronic under-spending because of the governments policy of prioritizing debt payments over and above social services like education. (SCAPnational.WordPress.Com)
  
  
  
• 24/07/2007 More than 500 students protested at the main campus of the Durban University of Technology (DUT; South Africa) on Tuesday morning. A heavy police presence was visible on DUT's Steve Biko Campus with security especially tight in the main administrative block.
  Students are protesting against poor conditions at student residences, poor transport between the campuses and residences, as well as financial issues. They are also demanding that the institution writes-off over R17-million in unpaid fees. (IOL.Co.ZA)
  
• 17/07/2007 The struggle for better conditions within the education sector and for the resignation of govenor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz continues in Oaxaca. Violent clashes errupted between a coalition of teachers, students and other social activists on one side and riot police on the other. Police in the Mexican state of Oaxaca have fired tear gas at protesters in the state capital in the worst outbreak of violence there since last November. Many people were injured and killed during clashes last year. For more info on the roots of the conflict check out this entry. (News.BBC.Co.UK)

• 04/07/2007 The struggle against tuition fees continues in Germany. Today hundreds of students protested outside and inside the university of Bielefeld, while the senate agreed to the introduction of 350 Euros of tuition fees per semester. During scruffles with the police and a special security force employed by the university called "Prodiac", the men in green used pepper spray to dispurse the crowd who tried to enter the university building where the senate meeting was held. Senate plenary gathering are usually open for the public. But not this time. Students were even prevented with force to join them. Students managed to tear down some of the fence build to prevent students from entering their own university building and some managed to get place butanoic acid inside the hall the day before the meeting. But unfortunately all this could not prevent the senate from passing a resolution in favour of tuition fees. The last word has not been spoken yet!! The struggle continues! (de.Indymedia.Org)
  
• 28/06/2007 About 200 to 300 students marched through the city center of Kassel to kick off the statewide boycott of tuition fees. Boycotts are carried out at almost all universities across the state of Hesse. Students in other states are planning boycotts as well. The MP of Hesse and the presidents of various universities threaten to throw everyone who doesn't pay up the 500 Euros tuition fees off campus. But students across the state are mobilising students to join the boycott. In average, if more than 22 percent of students of a particular university join the boycott, then it is officially successful and negotiations with the head of university will follow. Leave a message below, if you have more questions regarding the procedure. (HR-Online.De [news video])
  
• 22/06/2007 Today more than a hundred students and a couple of union members handed over the 78,721 signatures collected to file for a complaint of unconstitutionality in Wiesbaden to the 'State Constitutional Court'. Since in the constitution of the German state of Hesse it says, that access to schools, be it primary or higher education, should not be charged for. One percent (43,308 signatures) of all residents in Hesse who are eligible to vote were required. (Uebergebuehr.De)

•  22/06/2007 Students from the most important university in Brazil, the University of Sao Paulo, occupied the head office of the institution on May 3rd (as reported below) to protest against new policies announced by the govenor of Sao Paulo's state, that threatened the autonomy of the state's public universities. There are three major public universities in Sao Paulo: USP (Universidade de São Paulo), Unicamp (Universidade Estadual de Campinas), and Unesp (Universidade Estadual Paulista).
  It's now almost two months of occupation and the movement has grown beyond any expectation and has stimulated a general discussion in the press and among students all over the country. They started a blog to reach people outside the building (OcupacaoUSP.NoBlogs.Org).
  Many statements of support have come from students all over the world, including France, Spain, Malaysia, Argentina and U.S.A..
  The police didn't come to remove the students. Consequently, other students began to occupy head offices elsewhere in Soa Paulo universities.
  
• 22/06/2007 Minister of Science in Bavaria Mr. Goppel came to visit Augsburg to inaugurate a new building belonging to the University of Applied Sciences. Just before his arrival 25 students peacefully gathered near by the building. Even before the students interrupted the party or even managed to hold up a banner the police force violently expelled them from the area. Two guys received a complaint for 'breach of domestic peace'. One student was temporarily detained (who wasn't even part of the 'protest group'). Some students were slightly injured (haematoma, bruises) and got their clothes torn while being evicted. One student was traumatized and had to get treatment. All this happened although the police spokesperson first allowed the students to attend the event as long as they didn't interrupt it. (FreieBildung-Augsburg.De)

• 19/06/2007 Dozens of UP (University of the Philippines) students held a rally in front of the Commission on Higher Education demanding access to higher education for all. (GMANews.TV [video news report])
  
• 13/06/2007 Students in the Philippines picked the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) office in Pasig City to protest rising tuition fees. Members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) trooped to the CHED office to condemn the surge of tuition hikes affecting at least 88 colleges and universities this year. Some students also threw red paint at the building. (GMANews.TV)
  Members of the Youth Against Debt (YAD) marked the opening of classes in colleges and universities on Wednesday with coordinated protest action against tuition fee hikes.
  Calling it the 'First-Day Strike', they vowed to do a synchronized weeklong protest action of students and out-of-school youth in different schools and universities in Manila, Cebu, Tacloban and Mindanao.
  In Quezon City an indignation rally was held at the UP Diliman Oblation against the school's 300% tuition hike. A noise barrage was simultaneously conducted at the main office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in Ortigas Center.
  In the Visayas, a student march was organized in front of UP Cebu. At the same time, in Tacloban, a campus protest tour tropped to Leyte National High School, Leyte Colleges, Eastern Visayas State University, St. Scholastica, Leyte Normal University, Asian Development Foundation, and UP Tacloban. This was followed by an indignation protest action at the Department of Education Office in General Santos City.
  The protesters vowed to conduct more rallies at the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (Earist) and UP Manila.
  YAD said this is just a dress rehearsal for bigger protest action by the Filipino youth against unwarranted tuition hikes and debt payments. (ManilaTimes.Net, GMANews.TV [news video])
  
• 13/06/2007 In Augsburg (Germany) 2,000 students marched through the city centre protesting against cuts for the education budget, tuition fees and the continuous dismantling of the welfare state. They mainly came from Regensburg, Munich and Augsburg itself. Some Telekom staff, who were on strike against a 50.000 personnel cut also joined the students. Everything went very peaceful. But the police couldn't resist to detain one person towards the end of the demonstration because he was among 200 others blocking a main road for approx. 20 mins. During the whole day students in Augsburg went on strike and build barricades in front of the uni entrances. Since this summer students attending higher education had to pay an additional 500 Euros to the admin charges (126,50 Euros) for the semester for the first time. (Augsburger-Allgemeine.De, YouTube)

• 05/06/2007 (Pakistan) Over 300 students of Management Sciences Department of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) staged a protest demonstration on Tuesday at the old campus of the university against the decision to increase the tuition fee by 100 percent. The fee has been increased from Rs 45,000 to Rs 90,000 per semester. The students termed this raise unjust and illogical. The protesting students closed the gates of IIUI's Administration Block and prevented the staff from entering the block while their talks with the IIUI president were underway. A heavy contingent of police was present during the students protest. (DailyTimes.Com.Pk)
  
• 05/06/2007 (Brazil) Students run to occupy the headoffice of UFRGS singing 'At UNE? at UBES? Who says it has disappeared? Here is the Brazilian student movement!' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sueax_mNn7o)
  
• 04/06/2007 Student leaders from the University of Northern Philippines (UNP) were barred from entering the University premises after launching a campaign against the tuition and other fees increase implemented this school year 2007/2008. There have been similar incidents on campus for the past few days. (to read more on this: Nordis.Net)
  
• 01/06/2007 Some 30 out-of-school youths who call themselves the Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Lakas ng Kabataan marched through the streets of Manila naked to protest the impending tuition increases in more than 80 universities and colleges. (NewsInfo.Inquirer.Net, De.News.Yahoo.Com)

• 28/05/2007 (Brazil) Students occupy the vice-director's office of France City's Unesp campus. Like the students of USP they also started a blog: OcupacaoFranca.BlogSpot.Com.
  
• 24/05/2007 (Brazil) The justice department told the students to leave immediately since 18th May. But the students remain. Yesterday the police announced they will make use of force and arrest students if necessary to get them to leave the building. Some concerned students started to remove their mattresses and pack their belongings at 5am. However, students are building a barricade made of tires in front of the building. The professors also voted for a strike within the institution. Now all three major groups: students, admin staff and professors stopped their activities.
  Students at UNESP - another state university - also occupied their administrative building.
  Students at UNICAMP - the third and last state university in Sao Paulo - voted to join the strike from 24th onwards.
  The 'occupiers' are running a blog (in Portuguese), where they also publish all the support letters they have received so far from all over the world: OcupacaoUSP.NoBlogs.Org.
  
• 24/05/2007 (Israel) Today the strike ended after student leaders narrowly agreed a compromise with the government which accepted the implementation of the controversial Sochat reforms. This agreement is unpopular with many grass roots student activists. Hundreds of them were not willing to compromise and even tried to prevent the student representatives from casting their votes to prolong the strike. In the end over 250,000 students have been on strike for five weeks in a battle against the government over the rises in tuition fees, education cuts of up to NIS 1.2 billion (= 215 million Euros), and the privatisation of education. The strike is over, but the struggle continues! (JPost.Com, Chronicle.Com)

• 21/05/2007 Today a group of students occupied the main hall of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) with an intention of practicing autonomy and freedom of thought. They symbolically opened the Autonomous Tribune for discussion and debate problems at the university like higher education reforms, privatization of the university and the question of autonomy. With this initiative they have joined the students in Europe and the World, who have already started the struggle against neoliberal reforms within essential public goods like education and the submission of all aspects of social life to the logic of capitalist market economy. (Protest.ZBRKA.Net)
  
• 20/05/2007 (Brazil) Students are still 'living' inside the USP admin building. A group of professors have been trying to mediate the debate and discuss the situation with the students. The administrative staff also voted for a strike and to join the students.
  
• 14/05/2007 Students around the country were outraged after the announcement from the Australian Government that they would remove all caps on Domestic Full-Fee Entry (DFFE) places to Universities, and therefore over the elitist Americanisation of higher education. The removal of the cap on DFFE places was seen as the green light for some Universities, particularly the elite Universities, to move towards only offering DFFE places in some courses.
  The National Union of Students called on the 16th of May on campus snap actions around the country.
  The president of the National Union of Students (NUS) Mr Michael Nguyen said, “The change will ensure that only wealthy students will gain access to many of the courses that are currently in high demand, this is despite the Minister’s reassurance that Universities would be required to fill their commonwealth supported places before offering full fee entry places.”
  Mr Nguyen went on to say, “The direction that higher education should be headed in, should be towards greater access.  The phasing out of up-front fees will ensure that all Australians have an opportunity to go to University if they choose to do so.”
  “Only the elite sandstone Universities can sustain a high level of demand for full fee entry places and will further the government’s agenda of vertical diversity.”
  “This policy is underpinned by the government’s version of diversity which will reduce Australia to being a pale imitation of the American system and lead to a two-classed higher education system.” (UniStudent.Com.Au)
  
• 14/05/2007 A total of four officers were lightly wounded by stones during a large demonstration in Jerusalem on Monday. Roughly 1,000 students headed for the parliament building and tried to gain entry, it was at this point that fighting broke out between police and demonstrators.
  Negortiations between student leaders and government have been deadlocked for two weeks and the student strike has now lasted for 30 days. The students are protesting against the adaption of the recommendations of the Shohat commission which include lower budgets and higher tuition fees.
  The strike is widely supported by staff. Later 9 students were arrested. (LibCom.Org, IsraelHeute.Com)

• 10/05/2007 Eight students from Ben Gurion University (Israel) have launched a hunger strike in the protest tent set up outside the government offices in Be'er Sheva.
  They are protesting the planned hike in tuition fees. (YnetNews.Com)
  
• 10/05/2007 For over one year now students across Germany have been protesting against the introduction of tuition fees regularly. During plenary meetings students in various cities across the state of Hesse decided to call for a boycott of tuition fees next semester. Yesterday 800 students in Kassel marched through the city blocking streets and chanting slogans. And today more than 1,000 students in Frankfurt/M and a few hundred in Marburg held demonstrations as well, after calling for a boycott in their plenary meetings. In Marburg over 100 students managed to block the city highway both ways for almost half an hour. During demonstrations in Frankfurt/M five students were temporarily detained after some scuffles with riot police. The protest caused major traffic jams within the whole city. (de.indymedia.org, asta.tu-darmstadt.de) 

• 08/05/2007 The National Students Union in Israel rejected an offer presented by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) calling it 'humiliating'. The proposal included a pledge that tuition will not be raised until the end of next year, and students currently enrolled will pay the same tuition fees they are paying now until they graduate.
  Meanwhile students at Tel Aviv University sealed off the campus with chains and barbed wire yesterday.
  Students also blocked the entrance of Technion University in Haifa, but for just less than an hour. According to Haaretz some 400 Technion students then held a protest rally in downtown Haifa.
  Student leaders, meanwhile, decided to go ahead with the plan to lock the campus gates. "We won't let anyone in. The campus will be empty," Boaz Toporovky, chair of the Tel Aviv University Student Union, said Sunday. Students are also planning to launch a hunger strike. (Haaretz.Com, YnetNews.Com)
  
• 03/05/2007 Students in Surabaya (capital of the povince East Java in Indonesia) protested against the capitalization and liberalization of the education sector, while the president of Indonesia Yudhoyono gave a general lecture at the Airlangga University, Surabaya. (MediaScrape.Com)
  
• 03/05/2007 A round 150 students of the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Brazil have occupied the buildings as part of their struggle against the privatisation of the university. The struggle is against José Serra - the govenor of the State of Soa Paulo - who is lobbying in favor of a decree/legislation that allows plans for the privatisation of the university to be implemented. The USP is a public institution governed by the State of Sao Paulo. Founded in 1934, it has over 80,000 students registered and is the biggest research university in Brazil. Revolted, they broke down the main doors to get in, destroyed furniture, and sent away the nearly 1,000 administrative staff who were working in the building. The students are asking for messages of solidarity. Those can be send to the following addresses: marilia.rocha@yahoo.com.br flacs06@yahoo.com.br tupift@yahoo.com.br lagrima_s@hotmail.com (Free-Education.Org.UK, videos of the occupation can be found here (I, II))

• 03/05/2007 Today the head chancellors of 140 universities in Germany met up in Gießen together with corporate lobbyists working for Bertelsmann and others and some politicians to discuss how higher education can be managed more efficiently and corporate-friendly. Around 1,000 angry students protested outside the venue and marched through the city blocking major junctions. A healthy mix of over 700 police personnel protected the venue - well, we students are a really dangerous bunch over here, ya know! (Giessener-Anzeiger.De)
  
• 02/05/2007 As the student strike entered its 20th day, 33 students were arrested during demonstrations next to Tel Aviv University on suspicions of disturbing public order and endangering human life. Three policemen and a student were wounded in the scuffles that broke out when protesters tried to block the Ayalon Highway. The students, who were protesting feared tuition fee hikes, also threw flares, hurled smoke grenades and burned tires. The demonstration lasted several hours and involved thousands of students. They also held banners demanding "Olmert resign!" and stating "I am a poor student!". (Jpost.Com)

• 30/04 - 02/05/2007 Radio Universidad was re-occupied by students from the Benito Juarez Autonomous University and sympathizers of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). On May 1st the Section 22 Teachers' Union participated together with students and workers in a march. More than 100,000 individuals joined the protests and demanded for Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz to step down. The struggle - which began in March 2006, when teachers went on strike and students protested in the streets for better conditions at schools, and in which hundreds of people have been injured, tortured and killed so far - continues! (Indymedia.Org, Mexico.Indymedia.Org, De.Indymedia.Org)

Re-occupied Radio Universidad

• 26/04/2007 Students from San Francisco State walked out of classrooms to protest higher fees in education and the privatization of public education. Some gathered in the middle of Malcolm X plaza chanting, "the students united will never be divided" as they marched towards the center of campus. Soon after, the students went inside different buildings to encourage students to walk out. In the end about 1,000 students were marching in the streets. Later in the protest, the crowd marched into the arministration building. The fifth floor which houses the President Corrigan's office was locked. After the building fire alarm went off twice, students made their way outside and regrouped and discussed further actions in future. Protests began at around 10am and dispersed again at 4pm. (Xpress.sfsu.edu, Indybay.Org)

• 26/04/2007 After a massive assembly students in Tel Aviv started a demonstration spontaneously and blocked streets across the city to protest plans for tuition fee hikes. As part of the assembly speeches were held and music played. All was proceeding according to plan, until, at the end of Itay Barda's speech (chairman of Tel Aviv University's student union), called upon protestors to march to Rabin Square, located about 1km from that location. At that point students started pouring into the streets, bypassing police forces and blocking traffic, while student leaders tried to control them with little success. The police, completely unprepared for this eventuality, also failed to stop the march.
  After reaching the square, they split into various groups blocking traffic at various intersections. Hundreds of students managed to block Ayallon Road, which is the main Israeli highway. According to Iraeli Radio eight students were injured and ten arrested during the protests on this day. Currently students must pay US$2,211 (9,000 Shekels) per year in tuition fees. (LibCom.Org, Haaretz.Com)

    

• 24/04/2007 Students in the state of California are struggling to prevent a 10% tuition fee increase. Three California State Universities (CSU) host rallies, which were attended by hundreds of students. Students across the state are busy signing a petition against the increase and send it to Gov. Schwarzenegger.
  More than 500 students walked out from noon to 2pm at CSU East Bay. Students met at Meiklejohn Hall, where the university's political science department is located.
  One day later (25/04/2007) rallies were also organized at San Jose State, CSU Los Angeles, CSU Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Pomona and CSU Northbridge. (TheDailyAztec.Com, Origin.PressTelegramm.Com, SGVtribune.Com)

• 24/04/2007 Close to 5,000 students, mainly from colleges, went on strike in Berlin and joined a demonstration to protest against the introduction of tuition fees and the privatisation of 'public' education. (De.Indymedia.Org)

Banner expressing Solidairty with struggling students in Greece!

• 18/04/2007 Primary and secondary school teachers currently earning US$80 - $116 per month went on strike across Niger demanding better pay. At the same time students frequently rampage through the streets of the capital, Niamey, break into government and private properties, and clash with the police, demanding better conditions, provision of more books and other investment in their schools. Meanwhile the campus at the Universtiy of Niamey, the largest university in Niger, has also seen frequent disruptions this year as student unions there have organised large protests at least four times since March this year. They also demand the release of students arrested during the protests and the 'demilitarisation' of the campus. Several of the university protests have turned violent, as students have set up barricades of burning tyres in Niamey, and thrown petrol bombs at police. (IRINnews.Org)
  
• 17/04/2007 Students are still on strike throughout Israel, while the teachers union reaches a deal with the authorities. Police confiscated 12 tyres and containers of gasoline, as well as torches from a group of students heading to a demonstration in front of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Jerusalem residence. Large police forces were deployed along the routes leading to the capital, and stopped busses for security checks before reaching the city. More than 2,000 university students have already taken up positions there. The Gaza Street was closed to traffic heading into the city center. Chairman of the College Students Union, Itai Barda, said "The responsibility for the educational system should be on the government and the prime minister, and not on private, business institutions. We cannot ignore the many cutbacks in the educational system. Olmert must resign!". Furthermore Prof Yaron Mizrachi from Hebrew University remarked "Students mean knowledge and knowledge means power that the government is afraid of." High school teachers also joined the protest held by university students outside PM Ehud Olmert's home in Jerusalem. And last but not least Prof Yaron Ezrachi from the Department of Political Science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said that "higher education is a civil right, and in a proper country it should be given free of charge". (Jpost.Com, YnetNews.Com, Haaretz.Com)

• 12/04/2007 Student strikes continue in universities and colleges as students demand the dissolution of the Shochat Committee for reforms in higher education and the drop of tuition fees. A day earlier hundreds of students protested outside the offices of the Open University in north Tel Aviv where the Shochat Committee has its permanent offices, calling for the committee to be dismantled and demanding to immediately meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Well, if they were living in Venezuela it might have worked, but in any other country? Unlikely!