Dozens protest reposting of police at UPR

By CB Online Staff

cbnews@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

A mixed-bag of protesters rallied Thursday afternoon against the redeployment of police at the
University of Puerto Rico’s main Río Piedras campus.

Dozens of students and various labor leaders and professors made up the group of about 100
people protesting at the main gate.

Police were called to ensure access Thursday morning, a day after strikers a erected makeshift
barriers at campus entrances aiming to enforce compliance with a 24-hour walkout.

That walkout, according to a resolution approved at a sparsely attended General Student Council-
convened assembly Tuesday, was supposed to be followed by another 24-hour stoppage by
professors and non-teaching employees today.

Neither the Association of Puerto Rican University Professors (APPU) nor the Brotherhood of
Non-Teaching Employees heeded the strike call.

APPU Río Piedras chapter leader Ivette Torres was at the protest, but defended the decision of
the labor group not to strike.

“No sector can impose a union action on another. This was never discussed,” Torres said. “But
we are making it clear that APPU remains in solidarity with the fight being waged by the student
movement.”

Other labor union leaders including Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, Eva Ayala and Luis Pedraza
Leduc were at the protest.

Gov. Luis Fortuño ordered the redeployment of police Thursday morning after strikers clashed
with students and professors arriving for class on Wednesday morning, the first day of a planned
48-hour walkout.

The police deployment comes just over a week after the governor pulled officers from the
campus.
Police had been posted on the flagship Río Piedras campus since a violent clash in mid
December between private security guards and students protesting the new $800 annual fees.

Police Superintendent José Figueroa Sancha said Thursday regular officers were sent back to the
campus and that Tactical Operations Unit members will remain on the sidelines unless needed.

Echoing the governor, Figueroa Sancha said pulling the police on Feb. 14 allowed space for
dialogue between students and UPR administrators over the fees and other issues. However,
attempts by demonstrators to keep students and professors off campus on Wednesday showed
prompted the redeployment.

The police chief said videos of Wednesday’s clash remained under analysis to identify the
protesters involved.

“I would much rather have my police somewhere else, but I have to guarantee the rights of those
who want to study,” Figueroa Sancha said.

Former UPR President José Ramón de la Torre allowed the first deployment nearly two months
ago in a bid to restore order amid protests that were marked by masked striking students barging
into classrooms, tossing smoke bombs and overturning desks to try to enforce solidarity with the
stoppage. Police ensured that the majority of students and professors were able to continue to
attend class despite ongoing protests over the new fees, which were levied for the first time this
semester to help close a more than $200 million budget gap.

However, De la Torre drew fire from the UPR community for the move, which marked the first
time police have been posted on the campus since a non-confrontation policy was adopted in the
wake of a violent student strike in the early 1980s. De la Torre’s resignation this month, for
which he cited personal reasons, came after a clash between demonstrators led to some two
dozen arrests on the Río Piedras campus.

While support for a limited strike and ongoing protests and civil disobedience against the new
fees has not been widespread, the police presence on campus has drawn criticism from a wide
range of sectors.