Student requires eye surgery after Que. protest

One man has lost the use of one of his eyes and sustained head injuries after a student demonstration against proposed tuition fee hikes turned violent in a matter of minutes in Victoriaville, Que. Friday night.

The man, who will require surgery, is one of twomen in their twentiesbeing treated in hospital Saturday. The other man is being treated forhead injuries but is in stable condition.

Quebec provincial police arrested 106 peopleafter the student demonstration. They may be charged withillegal assembly and participating in a riot, police said.

Several hundredstudents demonstrated outside the provincial Liberal Party's general council meetingin Victoriaville,a small town about 150 kilometresnortheast of Montreal, a gatheringattended by Premier Jean Charest.

At least fourpolice officers and seven demonstratorswere injured. Some of the injured were taken to hospital. Police said at least one person sufferedlife-threatening injuries. One demonstrator was reportedly shot in the face with a rubber bullet.

Protesters threw cans, rocks, billiard balls and bricks at police. They also smashed windows in the building where the meetingtook place.

Police hurled tear gas, used sound grenades and shot rubber bullets at protesters. They say they have arrested four people.

Provincial police ordered everyone at the meeting to go inside and chained the exits shut.

TheLiberals gathered for a weekend policy meeting, which could be the launching pad for a spring election.

Barricades and police lines were set up to keep student protesters out. Delegates wereforced to go through a series of security checkpoints as they enter the conference centre.

The party moved its general council meeting from Montreal to Victoriaville, after student groups vowed to hold demonstrations outside the Montreal venue.

The biggest issue looming over party delegates, and Charest's government, is the ongoing student conflict.

But the official agenda of the meeting is to lay out some new Liberal policies, including the management of natural resources, and to discuss ways to breathe new life into Quebec's slumping manufacturing sector.