Quebec government walks out of student negotiations A protester dressed as Jean Charest, the Quebec premier, who has suspended negotiations with students over tuition fee rises. Photograph: Francis Vachon/AFP Quebec's premier, Jean Charest, has suspended negotiations with university students that were aimed at ending weeks of protests over proposed tuition hikes - a development that could lead to a long summer of demonstrations and clashes with police. Charest said after four days of talks they had reached an impasse and a huge gap remained. It would be "up to the silent majority to express itself" at elections due in 18 months. Student leaders said Quebec's education minister stepped away from the table, saying it wasn't politically possible to reach an agreement. One student leader called for more street protests and said he planned a large rally in Montreal for Saturday. Student groups have called for a tuition freeze but the government has ruled it out and passed an emergency law to limit protests. More than 2,500 people have been arrested since a student strike at more than a dozen Quebec colleges and universities began in February. The failure of the talks come at a crucial time for the Quebec government, with Montreal's peak tourism season fast approaching, along with international events such as the Formula One grand prix and international jazz and comedy festivals worth millions of dollars in tourism revenue. Charest said he hoped the break would bring some calm but student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois called for "a return to the streets." Charest said Nadeau-Dubois' group had threatened to disrupt the F1 race but the student leader said he was merely going to use the publicity generated by the event to make his cause visible. Quebec's average undergraduate tuition costs $2,519 a year, the lowest in Canada. The proposed hike is $254 per year over seven years. Opponents consider this an affront to the philosophy of 1960s reforms dubbed the Quiet Revolution that set Quebec apart from the rest of Canada and neighbour the US. Many Quebecois identify with European countries where higher education is mostly free. Students said a proposal to drop the yearly rise by $35 to $219 was unanimously rejected. The education minister, Michelle Courchesne, said that while students insisted on a complete freeze it made it difficult to negotiate. A student leader, Martine Desjardins, countered: "We're still here. We're always ready to negotiate. Charest was elected a decade ago on a vow to fix the debt-ridden province's finances. His attendance at Monday's talks was his first meeting with the students since the conflict began. Charest's government passed emergency legislation on 18 May restricting protests and closing striking campuses until August. The law requires that police be informed eight hours before a protest begins, including on the route of any demonstration of 50 or more people. It also prohibits demonstrations within 50 metres of a college and declares that anyone who incites or helps another person to break the new regulations can be fined. Amnesty International says the law breaches Canada's international human rights obligations and has called on Quebec's legislature to rescind it. On Wednesday two United Nations special rapporteurs expressed concern about the law and "urged federal and provincial governments of Canada and Quebec to fully respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, expression and association of students affected by two new legislations."