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It was the second repudiation in a week of Marois’ declaration that student unrest had been put to rest.

Social peace was one of the Parti Quebecois premier’s campaign platforms in last year’s provincial election and she declared mission accomplished at the conclusion of a summit on education last week. That was where she also announced her government would increase fees by three per cent, which was less than the Liberals.

Students protested after the summit and Tuesday night they were out in force again, this time rekindling the nighttime march which was a fixture of last year’s student unrest. Most were peaceful, but some of those marches turned violent and led to mass arrests.

The call for Tuesday’s march summed up that little had changed from the marches of the past.

“We are angry,” the organizers declared in a Facebook page urging people to fill the street. They drew thousands.

Although peaceful at first, the march degenerated near its end as vandalism was reported.

Fifty-three people were arrested on charges including mischief and unlawful assembly. Police say a demonstrator and a police officer were taken to hospital, the marcher after being hit in the leg by a stun grenade and the police officer for treatment of a minor wound near his eye caused by a flying projectile.

Montrealers stared from the sidewalks as the marchers wound through the downtown core and offered none of the applause and waves of goodwill they did at some points last year. A few passersby smiled at the fireworks being shot into the air.