Close to 700 people were arrested Wednesday night in Quebec after tuition protests turned violent, the Associated Press reports. Protests in Montreal, where 518 people were arrested, and in Quebec City, where 176 were arrested, started peacefully, but police spokesmen said that officers were pelted with projectiles. Student groups have said that demonstrations will continue and that they will challenge arrests in court. They have been demonstrating for more than 100 days.

Last week emergency legislation was passed in an attempt to end Canada’s most sustained student demonstrations in history, requiring that demonstrators provide an itinerary to the police more than eight hours in advance of a protest and describe the route that will be taken by any group larger than 50. The law is unpopular with students and rights groups, but supported by two-thirds of Quebecers.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Montreal’s streets on Tuesday to mark the 100th day of a student strike against planned tuition increases, reports The Gazette. The demonstration, which some organizers called the single biggest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, was peaceful by day but turned violent at night, with 100 arrests. Under Quebec’s emergency legislation, enacted on Friday, the province has suspended the semester until August, required protest organizers to notify the police of their routes in advance, and set escalating fines for those who block access to classes. Although many of the participants on Tuesday were students or youth activists, the CBC reports they were joined by others concerned about the new law, including small sympathy protests in New York, Paris, and other cities. Students plan to challenge the law in court, possibly this week,…

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Flanked by higher-education officials, Jean Charest, Quebec’s premier, said Wednesday  that his government would propose emergency legislation to suspend the semester at 11  universities and 14 colleges that have practically been shut down by student protests over planned tuition increases, reports The Globe and Mail. The move, which is expected to be approved, is meant to reduce tensions and restore “social peace.” The semester will resume in August, with a new academic year beginning in October. The legislation may also contain new penalties to prevent demonstrators from blocking access to higher-education institutions, a common tactic used during the 14-week strike.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Quebec City and Montreal around midnight to object to the plan. The Montreal demonstration turned violent, with police arresting 122 people, reports CBC News.

A group of about 100 demonstrators, many of them wearing masks and armed with drums and whistles, stormed the halls of the University of Quebec at Montreal on Wednesday, disrupting classes as part of student strikes over proposed tuition increases, reports CBC News. The protesters sprayed slogans on the wall and yelled “Scab!” at students in a law class.

Administrators say classes have not been canceled, but they are still deciding how to proceed. The university went to court last week to get an injunction to allow students to resume their studies despite efforts by protesters to block access to the campus.

The 14-week strike has played havoc with the province’s colleges and universities. The University of Montreal this week announced that it had canceled its June graduation ceremonies for arts-and-sciences students and would adjust its academic calendar for 2012-13.