Up until recently , the protests , which consisted of thousands of people peacefully walking along main arteries of the city , whilst shouting slogans and waving banners and signs , were legal . Now , at least a portion of the protesting is against that fact that the spontaneous protests are now illegal . It should have been no surprise that the public would react in this way , given that the students are thousands of sons and daughters of mostly Canadian , many French/Canadian families , who are to foot the bill for the increases . To not seemed to have listened to the group during protesting that has gone on for over a month , and then to suppress the collective voice has landed the government in a mess . It is , indeed , sad that a great weekend in a world-class city may be spoiled to an extent , but I think there's perhaps more to it than what's on the surface . Some in Montreal are now so cynical as to the government stance in all of this , that it is believed that there was no plan to settle the dispute , but rather , to paint the protestors in a bad light by running them into a few of the summer events . So , yes it sucks , but we are talking about the oppression of free speech . Blaming the students is a bit too simple .