About 80,000 university students went on strike Tuesday to protest government plans to raise tuition fees. Several thousand massed outside the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday evening in what began as a peaceful demonstration and ended in a violent clash with police.
The students said they are prepared to pay the equivalent of $800 a year. Education Minister Yitzhak Navon has proposed tuition slightly in excess of that amount. But the Finance Ministry insists that students will have to pay up to $2,000 a year because the Treasury can no longer cover the costs of higher education at a lesser fee. University authorities warned that if the strike continues beyond April 10, when classes recess for the Passover holidays, the rest of the spring semester may have to be cancelled. Nevertheless, students at teacher training colleges announced they would join the strike Wednesday.
Thousands of students gathered outside the Knesset late Tuesday and began a torchlight procession to the Prime Minister’s Office. They were blocked by police who became the targets of flaming torches and rocks. Two students were arrested. One was identified as Uri Ben-Hur, chairman of the Jerusalem Students Association.
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