Tens of thousands of students took to the streets in several Colombian cities Wednesday to protest against a planned reform of the country’s higher education.
According to local media, the march occured largely without incidents, but did cause major traffic jams in Bogota and a disruption of the city’s mass transit system Transmilenio.
The Bogota march began around 9:30 at the National University from where the students marched towards the Plaza de Bolivar, the political heart of the capital.
Some acts of vandalism were reported, but according to Caracol Radio, attempts to disturb the march by rioters were curbed by the majority of the 10,000 marchers shouting “end to violence.”
Students also took to the streets in Medellin and Cali.
The march is the third of its kind to protest a government-proposed reform of public education and held while an estimated 500,000 students are on strike because of their opposition to the proposal.
The controversy is caused by the so-called Law 30. According to the government, this law must be reformed to be able to increase the number of Colombians taking part in higher public education, but according to critics the law will deteriorate the quality of education and cause further financial problems for the already broke public universities.