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Students and protesters who remained behind at UQAM chanted “Liberez nos camarades” (free our comrades) and “Occupons UQAM” (occupy UQAM). About 150 staged a sit-in on the ground floor of the campus later, but did not disrupt classes.

The head of UQAM made no apologies for calling the police.

“As you know, we are bound to give our courses to the students. It’s an obligation of the university,” rector Robert Proulx told Radio-Canada.

Although the “university is a place of debate,” Proulx said UQAM asked for an injunction “to assure free circulation and free access to classes.”

“We know that a minority of people decided to defy the injunction and showed up at the university … to intimidate.”

Some protesters occupying UQAM now building blockades to lower levels, many wearing masks http://t.co/cu06kso7r3 —

Rene Bruemmer (@ReneBruemmer) April 09, 2015

“It’s really not in the culture of the university to call the police to help. But when we find a situation like this morning, where the guards were not able to keep the security of the people, I have a responsibility to (the majority of) students who frequent UQAM, who want to move about the university without danger, for their safety … and without having to endure intimidation.”

It was the second police intervention of the day at the school. At about 10:30 a.m., police received a call from administrators and entered the university’s Judith Jasmin building in order to help “restore order.” In what has become a familiar scene, masked protesters had gathered and attempted to disrupt classes shortly after 9 a.m. as part of broader strike action to protest against the provincial government’s austerity measures.