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| Photographer: Omar Rodríguez Ortíz Huffington Post |
By Jesus Davila, NCM News (Submitted by Guillermo Glen)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, February 13th 2011(NCM) The orgy of violence unleashed by the national police in an effort to contain the student uprising had the unexpected result of opening a breach in the wall of internal support for Governor Luis Fortuno so wide that it has allowed begun the flow of complaints and information about criminal plans and the squandering of treasures property of the University of Puerto Rico.
At the same time the University strike continues unabated and this weekend a human wave surrounded the UPR, blocked traffic with a sit in on one of the main thoroughfares and later entered the main University campus where the students once again took over the Tower -to the cheers of the crowd- and even danced defiantly less than a meter of the besieged police.
In this way the tone of the crisis rises at a time when various social protests are taking shape and when the president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Osvaldo Toledo, chose civil disobedience in response to an order from the United States District Court and is being held in a federal jail. The protest by attorneys in a case in which their Headquarters can be seized, joins and is fueled by the University crisis.
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| Photographer: Omar Rodríguez Ortíz Huffington Post |
Last Saturday 72 social civic and political entities- including all the opposition parties- joined the gigantic march.
"Last night at the UPR you charlatan hit my Lola, last night at the UPR you charlatan come hit her now" parents and student sympathisers sang at a police alignment that observed from a prudent distance, referring to last Wednesdays violent incidents. So choking was the scandalous conduct of riot police against the students, that it provoked a crisis within the pro government operatives to the point that some of the police involved were removed and the president of the UPR, Jose Ramon de la Torre, had to resign after demanding the withdrawal of the Police from the eleven campuses in the system.
At the same time the first report arrived of a student being fired from their job in a tourism business as retaliation for their participation in the strike.
In fact, professors, administrative employees and the cleaners and maintenance Union closed down the campus on Thursday and Friday in order to prevent further violent confrontations, leaving an atmosphere of uncertainty in the face of the fear that the coming week will bring a "blood bath". In this instance, however, it's not only about the typical rumors in cases such as this.
The Puerto Rican Association of University Professors reported having information about a meeting on Monday at the highest governmental levels in which it was evaluated that "everything was working out fine" in the UPR crisis and that the only thing missing was a death to be blamed on the students. After this was made public NCM News obtained specific information about the participants in this alleged meeting and their links to Santa Catalina Palace, the government headquarters.
The fact is that on Tuesday anti riot units known as "shock troops"went too far against the female students in the vicinity of the school of social sciences, following which a crowd forced them to retreat and then roamed throughout the streets and buildings on campus. The next day the police began video taping students who painted slogans in the traditional "street of consciousness"in a blatant violation of the law which which categorizes the crime of "carpeteo" (filing), which is the creation of a police file of citizens conducting legal activities.
A group of students surrounded the police and attempted to physically prevent the continuation of the illegal practice and a few minutes later the shoving, beatings stone and even paint throwing began. Riot police, arrest units and a squad of mounted police went into action with indiscriminate beatings to all who came in proximity and arresting indiscriminately those they caught, leading the courts to find no merit to the detentions.
The mob dispersed and reappeared on the other side of the campus in a march that quickly grew to over a thousand demonstrators which resumed marching through the campus. When they arrived in front of the General Studies building two police attempted to confront the crowd which forced them out of the way having one of their hats fly through the air.
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| Photographer: Omar Rodríguez Ortíz Huffington Post |
Once again the police arrived, but when they tried to brake through with their motorbikes the students opened the way only to surround them and pull them of their vehicles. The mounted units fared no better as the students threw stones aimed at the riders who had to retreat. As the riot police arrived the crowd of student vanished only to reappear minutes later surrounding the University Tower where since mid morning the Brotherhood of unaffiliated Non Educational Staff maintained control of the rectory demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Police.
The day came to an end with two community marches in support of the University and a report that attorneys for the Confederation of University Professors had began preparing criminal complaints against the police for the torture of students.
But the most surprising event occurred when a student member of the Board of Trustees, Rene Vargas made a formal request for copies of the inventory of the wealth of properties without heirs -which by law the UPR has been given over the last 80 years- and was told that these properties are sold as soon as they are received. This raises the dual problem of where is the accounting that guarantees all benefits are being received and the bigger question is how could the Governmental Development Bank accept these properties which no longer exist as part of collateral for a one hundred million dollar line of credit.
NCM-CHI-SJ-NY-13-02-11-05
Further info at Huffington Post
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