University Of Puerto Rico STRIKE: 17 Detained In Violent Protests (PHOTOS)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — At least 17 people have been detained as students at the largest public university in the Caribbean clashed with police during an indefinite strike over a new fee, officials said Tuesday.

The violent clash Monday afternoon began when several people threw smoke bombs inside the University of Puerto Rico. The bombs activated sprinklers in a library, damaging books and computers, police said in a statement.

The suspects are expected to appear in court Tuesday afternoon to face charges including inciting a riot and damage to property.

Students later tried to break into a police station near the university as they threw rocks and other objects and also damaged a patrol car, Police spokeswoman Damaris Pereira said. Several officers were slightly injured and received medical attention, she said.

Hundreds of students launched the strike a week ago to demand that university officials eliminate an $800 yearly fee that will be imposed next year to help reduce the system's budget deficit. Students already pay $49 per credit.

A similar strike in April over the fee and other issues paralyzed the university for nearly two months.

The university's budget was recently cut from $9 billion to $7 billion a year.

PHOTOS FROM THIS MONTH'S PROTESTS:

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Puerto Rico University Strike

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A university student is detained by police during a protest inside the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday Dec. 20, 2010. Students are on indefinite strike to protest an $800 yearly fee that takes effect next year to help reduce the system's budget deficit. Students already pay $49 per credit. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Dia, J. Ismael Fernandez Reyes) PUERTO RICO OUT - NO PUBLICAR EN PUERTO RICO

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A university student is detained by police during a protest inside the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday Dec. 20, 2010. Students are on indefinite strike to protest an $800 yearly fee that takes effect next year to help reduce the system's budget deficit. Students already pay $49 per credit. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Dia, J. Ismael Fernandez Reyes) PUERTO RICO OUT - NO PUBLICAR EN PUERTO RICO

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Comments

[lmunoz]

11:16 PM on 01/27/2011

By the way I would appreciate it if the author takes the time to do a more indepth presentation of this issue, I mean Im sure HuffPo wont mind if she takes more than one paragraph to appropriately portray the complexities behind this problem with the university. I find it really superficial and not the kind of reporting I normally see on HP. Simply not serious enough given the issues at stake here...

[lmunoz]

11:12 PM on 01/27/2011

Today the police has fired rubber bullets to a crowd that was protesting in non-violent manner as they were already leaving for the day. They decided to charge them and even reporters and photojournalists were violently persecuted.
This government is a right wing republican inspired regime who wishes to control every aspect of society with the use of police force if necessary. Their blind desire to privatize the university is a fetish for many years in the making since they cant buy or silence the intellectual spirit of our people. This fiscal crisis of the university was fabricated with the intent to alter an institution that has functioned for generations producing first rate professionals particularly in sciences and the humanities.
Whether the fee is fair or not, that is not the only issue, the repressive tactics and deployment of police to subdue the protests are an affront to our civil rights of free expression as Puerto Rican and American citizens. Their daily actions violate our rights and that is why the DOJ in washington is already investigating the current government who gives them the runaround but the pressure for accountability is getting stronger and soon the actions of the ACLU and other rights' groups will lead to the federal government taking action, I just hope it happens before a tragedy occurs.

[jaschem1]

11:12 AM on 12/23/2010

You will go into any Sams Club, Best Buy, Home Depot, shopping center or restraunt and they are full. You have a horrible time finding a parking spot. Everyone has decent cars and everyone has cell phones. People do not look like they are suffering here any more than in the US.

If people would file their taxes and not work for cash so not to report, the government would have more money.

Only the people who have more expensive homes pay property tax. Great huh, most people on this island don't pay property taxes either.

So, like in the states, the people on the higher end pay for everything. People are not dumb.

Why is it some kids can pay for their tuition and the others complain. Not a good work ethic for their future, like people owe it to them.

[lmunoz]

10:58 PM on 01/27/2011

you speak with talking points straight from the PNP republican local party, they all say exactly the same argument about the malls, mis state the tax situation and paint a caricature of these students, though at least you didnt call them communist hippies so you get some points for that.

The University is the most important vehicle for social mobility and its an internationally respected academic institution. It has functioned very well for about a century, now we get a republican governor that simply continues the 40 year long ideological war on the UPR, maybe the only public institution that this party has never been able to politicize in their favor. And so the governor and his entourage of silver spooners decide that they will balance the budget by cutting the university's budget, reduce considerable sources of revenue in their new budgets thus creating a "crisis", they now want to "pause" about 12 departments including undergraduate hispanic studies and its all part of their desire to control every aspect of our society and privatize anything that might prove profitable to their cronies.
Sir, if you have children you are free to instill your morals on them but you dont need to comment on so many disadvantaged people who have for generations benefited intellectually from this cultural academic gem that the right wing of my country has always despised and is willing to destroy at any cost.

[pierre F Lherisson]

12:14 PM on 12/22/2010

Primary,secondary and university education should have been free. Education is the lifeblood of a nation future and success. Let the students pay only for sports,religion and art curriculum because they are more important to progress than exact sciences and literrature.

[lmunoz]

11:01 PM on 01/27/2011

Even in a country as rich as Switzerland, students only pay about $800 a year for access to the Geneva University or the Lausanne university and these are very good facilities. Plus they have numerous form of aid for their students to more than offsett any fees.
Public education is considered a right in the Puerto Rican constitution.

[jaschem1]

08:33 PM on 12/21/2010

College tuition is hard for all students everywhere. You have to make choices. If you are poor and cannot afford the hikes, you have to make hard choices. You may have to cut back on your cell phones and payment plans, share computers, cut back everywhere. Imagine going to college 40 years ago where there were no cars, no computers or internet, no cell phones, no credit cards.
These add up. People need to learn to sacrifice a little. You have choices, you cannot have it all.
Get through college, then acquire what you can afford.

[OnlyIfIHaveTo]

07:07 PM on 12/22/2010

That logic doesn't apply here, you know better then that.

[GinghamQuaker]

07:38 PM on 12/21/2010

Maybe they'll vote to be a state next time around.

[rekso]

06:26 PM on 12/21/2010

The UPR charges $49 per credit!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can anyone find another school in the states that charges less, not even a community college!!!!!
They were warned that if they keep loosing days they will loose their acreditation, since they were on strike for something else before.
They are loosing students that want to go to school and know that they will get their diploma in time to move on to Grad school on time.
They wan the right to an education, but is not free!! We dont even have the right to food, because is not free. I understand that the school has bad administrators, but what do they really want, to keep the same cost for ever??
Puerto Ricans are use to lots of money from the US, as the department of education is the #1 employer and more than half the money comes from Federal grants, so does lots of other benefits and in Puerto Rico there is NO FEDERAL TAXES. So free services, in reality that has to stop. We are under the american economic system, it does not works like Cuba's.
Here is the last time a big strike was going on, just look a PRs numbers vs. California (who is borke) on the top.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/10/22/puerto.rico.economy/index.html

[garystartswithg]

06:39 PM on 12/21/2010

do you have any concept of how poor most of Puerto Rico is? There is a reason they move to bad neighborhoods in the United States -- its luxury compared to Puerto Rico. The fuss wasn't about 49. -- it was about a flat fee of 800. Thats more than what a semester of classes costs going to a flat fee. Its fully corrupt -- the students have every right to protest.

[jaschem1]

08:20 PM on 12/21/2010

I live in PR and the people are doing fine here. All these students who are protesting have cell phones, laptops, computers, designer clothes and the same as the students in the US. It is a choice they have to make like any other person. The people are not all poor. Another thing, a lot of students live at home, not like in the US. Once you get help, you expect it to last till you graduate. They have the money for the lower tuition, they just don't want to spend it on their education. A lot of the protestors are not even students. You need to come to PR and take a look at it yourself.

[Drabble]

09:53 AM on 12/23/2010

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the median income in Puerto Rico as reported between March 15, 2009 and October 31, 2009 was $26,822. However, there is a very strong underground economy and much un- or under-reported income. Nevertheless, if you compare on a percentage basis the income/tuition relationship of a low-median- income state with that of PR, the tuition at UPR is low.

For example, the median income of Mississippi is $54,501; tuition and fees at the University of Mississippi are $5,461, or 10% of median income.

Puerto Rico’s median income is $26,822 and tuition/fees with the $800 increase will be $2,172, or 8% of median income.

Moreover, the percentage of total costs of higher education that UPR students pay remains at 10%, in contrast to 20-30% nationwide.

[Solouno]

06:39 PM on 12/21/2010

Another genius who nows nothing of the economy of PR!

[rekso]

07:13 PM on 12/21/2010

No I know about the economy of PR, I know about caserios full of TV ditches, and nicer cars than the working class, I know how there is no parking spots from opening to close at the nice mall (plaza). How all the 'poor women' have nails worth more than some classes there.
Did you even see the link I posted??? About how 1 in 20 jobs are goverment jobs, and the state with the most has 1 in a 100, under the same system??
The problem is that people like you dont know how economy in general works.
I know both sides have blame here but (gary) protesting and stoping people from finishing their studies is very different. You can protest all you want but setting fire alarms and getting computers and books wet helps noone. No letting poeple graduate on time, helps no one, and shys away possible founding for things that migth get done or might not due to strike.
Do you even stop and think about the rest of the people???
What are the chances that all this will lead to anything else.
For everyone else that is not from PR , you need to know they strike there all the time, then they provoke the police, destroy public property and all the time, then complain why we dont have nice stuff.

[Chicharon]

06:04 PM on 12/21/2010

Puerto Rico has been thru many kinds of riots in it's rich history...quiet and violent ones. Some may agree that its almost normal to retaliate. Tomm is another day, you wanna eat-you pay, you wanna go to school-you pay.

Keep in mind just like in the states the jobs are scarce for newly grads and Im sure the unknown of their economy lingers in their thoughts everyday.

[ObamAtomic]

05:21 PM on 12/21/2010

drbslurp 16 minutes ago (4:58 PM)
286 Fans
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psst - we invaded mainland USA too - just as every country on earth was formed - such is life. Most of the world would not consider living the American life 'suffering­' - that's why we have so many immigrants coming here.

============================================================
After we vandalized-destroyed their economies-those immigrants that is the only things they could do- Coming to America,

[Solouno]

05:42 PM on 12/21/2010

Puerto Ricans are US citizens! fyi

[ObamAtomic]

12:44 AM on 12/22/2010

Really? Yawn!,LOL !SO!

I know they were forced to be one!

On July 25, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States with a landing at Guánica. As an outcome of the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris.

The rest is history.

[KriTiKiT]

05:49 PM on 12/21/2010

its forced effort to have a uneducated group of people move to the states for voting rights and less pay.  they only reason the united states took on Puerto rico was because we could not annex mexico... the first thing the united states did was bolt lawn chairs in cargo planes and ship them to the farms of the united states so the would have legal farm labor.

[Solouno]

05:57 PM on 12/21/2010

Please read the Treaty of Versailles!

[ObamAtomic]

12:48 AM on 12/22/2010

They(USA) treated Cuba same way -started 1902 until 1959.

[SPAIN62]

05:05 PM on 12/21/2010

¡Bravo Estudiantes!

[Huero]

06:21 PM on 12/21/2010

"The bombs activated sprinklers in a library, damaging books and computers."..

So you are in favor of this tactic? Vandalism and assault on police?

"Students later tried to break into a police station near the university as they threw rocks and other objects and also damaged a patrol car, Police spokeswoman Damaris Pereira said. Several officers were slightly injured and received medical attention, she said."

[Solouno]

06:40 PM on 12/21/2010

It's a civil right thing!

[J Barry 1967]

03:45 AM on 12/22/2010

It's a lie, the Puerto Rican police lies about this sort of thing all the time. One of the most corrupt police forces in the US.

[caneca]

05:04 PM on 12/21/2010

The problem is that traditionally the University system in Puerto Rico has been funded almost exclusively by the taxpayers. In Puerto Rico there is no tradition of Alumni donating money to the University like in the States. And large corporations do not donate money to the University system either as they see it as the duty of the government to provide that education.
So if there is a shortage in the bugget, they only have 2 options: raise tuiton (which is very low) or put additional burden on the taxpayers.

[wendelswerk]

10:43 PM on 12/21/2010

Well said.

[vorykua]

04:49 PM on 12/21/2010

its amusing to read comments from people who probably couldnt find Puerto Rico in a map. I might be exagerating, as Huffpost readers are typically smart, nonetheless ive met my share of folks who think of Puerto Rico as part of Mexico. Anyhow, these students have every right to protest, as the University administration is asking for the students to pay for their mistakes in running the school, which are too many to mention in this post. As for the manner in which they are protesting, there is no question some of this kids have gone out of line, but the same can be said of a police force which has abused its power.
Yo soy Boricua! Pa' que tu lo sepa!

[ObamAtomic]

05:03 PM on 12/21/2010

Asi se habla CONO! LOL

[GinghamQuaker]

07:41 PM on 12/21/2010

I definitely would have a hard time finding an entire island IN a map, but continuing to criticize other posters.

[garystartswithg]

04:43 PM on 12/21/2010

Hey American kids -- are you paying attention? This is how its done. Why we fail, chapter 294.

[drbslurp]

04:50 PM on 12/21/2010

Hey gary - Puerto Rico is American and so are it's citizens. Why we fail, Chapter 1 - liberals are uneducated about basic facts.

[garystartswithg]

05:03 PM on 12/21/2010

Puerto Rican is a US territory -- they don't have representitives in Congress, in case you missed that. Who is uneducated? Hello?

[SPAIN62]

05:07 PM on 12/21/2010

Hey drbslurp your right-wing arrogance and h8te is why this Nation is failing.

[xXRBOTXx]

04:33 PM on 12/21/2010

That budget is wrong. Its not 9 billion it is 900 million reduced to 700 million.

[Busterman]

04:25 PM on 12/21/2010

High fees are direct result of high pay for teachers in useless programs like, philosophy, history, African American Studies, Modern Media, Liberal Arts and a whole host of degrees with no hope of finding meaningful employment.

[garystartswithg]

04:42 PM on 12/21/2010

Wow are you ever off -- but thanks for playing. Its hard to give you an E for effort even, you just go straight to fail.

[drbslurp]

04:51 PM on 12/21/2010

Says the guy that doesn't know Puerto Rico is US Territory

[ObamAtomic]

04:48 PM on 12/21/2010

That is why Rush,Beck,Hannity are driveling and Palin only reached a journalistic certificate,
because they skipped those "useless" degree as you called them.