As they left the courtroom in handcuffs, their friends, fans and family gave them a standing ovation. The accused looked into the crowd and smiled. Some family members blew kisses. The four face charges that include spreading fear of terrorism — a serious crime that could carry up to five years in prison.

Three women and one man are accused of tossing smoke bombs into various subway stations last week, shutting down service and causing a frustrating morning commute for tens of thousands of Montrealers. Some protesters accused the media of being biased against their cause and they obstructed television cameras from gathering images, doing things like tossing sheets over camera lenses. That led to some angry exchanges.

It was one of several heated scenes taking place inside and around Montreal on Monday. There were also showdowns outside schools over whether classes should be allowed to reopen following legal injunctions.

“I was then told that I had to take down what I was showing and that I could show something else if I had it,” Silva told Matt Gleason in an interview published on the Huffington Post. “I was also told that the reason I couldn’t show it is because someone from Mercedes corporate was ‘pissed’ about it and basically took it as a ‘fuck you’ to Mercedes.”

Silva says that after setting up his projector for the event, which he was invited to participate in by curator and new media artist Rafael Rozendaal of the BYOB collective, he returned to find a postcard taped over the lens, blocking the image. “I took the card off,” Silva says, “fixed the image back the way it was supposed to and immediately got rushed by Felipe Lima, one of the ‘Transmission’ organizers and two other people who I did not know, one of them wearing a gold chain with a Mercedes logo hanging from it.” When he asked to speak to a Mercedes representative, Silva says that he was told he couldn’t because “they are pissed.”

The price was a record for the Lichtenstein, though not for the Bacon. Other records were set through the course of the night for artists including Cy Twombly, Glenn Ligon, Ai Weiwei, Isa Genzken, and Mark Bradford. Of the fifty-seven lots offered, eleven failed to sell. With regards to the evening, collector Peter Brant told Carol Vogel in the New York Times, “Where the quality was good it was particularly strong.”

There are reports of smoke filled stations at key transfer points, crippling the entire system.The trickle-down effect has been felt in the city’s streets, with long lineups at bus stops and increased traffic under a heavy drizzle.

One listener wrote to local radio station CJAD to say that Premier Jean Charest should withdraw whatever offer he has made to students, and demand that the Army be called in. Police, however, have not pointed the blame at anyone yet. They have repeatedly said in recent weeks that some radical groups have been taking advantage of students’ anti-tuition battle to create their own damage.

With the possibility of salvaging their semester becoming more remote each day, students are nevertheless sending a message to the Liberal government that they are not ready to settle for what they consider a questionable deal.

Cegep de Rosemont general assembly voted to not even consider the government’s offer. Not to be outdone, facing the possibility of a cancelled semester, the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at the University of Sherbrooke general assembly voted to demand a pony for each student whose classes are cancelled. The daily demonstrations (including 15 straight night time demos in Montreal) have continued throughout the voting process. At this point over 160,000 on strike for 13 weeks and so far 83,250 students have voted to reject the government’s offer, 3,200 to accept it. Colleges and campus not on strike took incidentally took votes and voted against it.

Most agree that studying abroad brings qualitative benefits for the students who go, the universities that receive them and the nations on both ends of the exchange. But it’s hard to monetize the value of increased mutual understanding, and considerably easier to calculate tuition and housing expenses. Delegations from 15 nations and the European Union—which included every G8 country and representatives from every inhabited continent except Africa—found common ground on the big-picture issues during the two-day conference convened by the Institute of International Education.

Everyone stands to benefit from a multilingual, globally aware, well-educated citizenry, delegates generally agreed. But variations, both ideological and logistical, emerged when discussing each nation’s goals with international education and the ways they finance those goals. “The issue of mobility is becoming more of a challenge for universities and countries because funds are short and at the same students are becoming more and more demanding,” said Xavier Prats Monné, a delegate from the European Union.

“Art-Athina is reassessing its strategy,” director Alexandros Stanas told the Financial Times, “taking into consideration the latest facts in [the] economy and the country in general.” The fate of the fair, which typically takes place in mid-May, remains uncertain. Its 2012 cancelation is just the latest blow to the local art economy, which seemed to be bound for glory when gallery mogul Larry Gagosian opened an outpost in Athens back in 2009.

An article this weekend in the Greek newspaper TO BHMA noted grimly that Art-Athina has been a reliable barometer of the country’s art market for nearly two decades. “After the collapse of Greece’s economy, why not its art too?,” asks Vlassis Frissiras, a collector and owner of the Frissiras Museum. “The collapse of [the art market] is a corollary of our cultural collapse. Collecting art is a luxury business, and a financial meltdown has tempered collectors’ willingness to buy. If you take a look at the art galleries, you will see how squeezed they are. Many are on the verge of closing.”

“The charges were brought at the request of the UC Davis administration, which had recently received a termination letter from US Bank holding the university responsible for all costs, claiming they were “constructively evicted” because the university had not responded by arresting the “illegal gathering.” Protesters point out that the charges against them serve to position the university favorably in a potential litigation with US Bank.”

A petition is circulating that demands UC Davis drop all charges.

Their arraignment originally set for April 27th has been postponed until May 10th, according to the California Aggie. You can also find out more on the Davis Dozen website. Read the FAQs about the case here. And more as we know!

The deal, reached Saturday, centres on a temporary pause placed on the tuition increase until December, when a joint committee reports on how to trim back expenses in University and CEGEP budgets. The increase, a $1625 hike that will be spread over seven years, will still go forward.Any savings found by committee would be used to reduce fees, offsetting the tuition increase. The government has said there’s no guarantee any savings will be found

Students started voting at some Quebec CEGEPs Monday morning and votes are expected to continue over the next several days. Student group, CLASSE, expects to have voting results by mid-week. The federation representing Quebec’s university students have scheduled a special assembly to discuss the results on Friday. According to CLASSE, 171 students associations representing more than 167,000 students are still participating in what they’re calling an unlimited general strike.