Danish students protest cuts to state education grants

Thousands of Danish students took to the streets on Wednesday to protest government plans to cut student allowances. Around 40,000 students at 57 upper secondary schools walked out of classes, while 12,000 to 13,000 people joined the demonstration in Copenhagen. The protest began at City Hall Square at 12:30 p.m. before participants marched to Christiansborg, the seat of Denmark's Parliament.

A dozen high school and university student associations marched under a banner reading "enough is enough" to denounce proposed cuts intended to free up funds for defence spending. Slogans included "Less Support, Less Educated," "Broken Promises," and "Don't Cheat the Young." The demonstration was conducted under police surveillance in a peaceful atmosphere.

“I'm infuriated that we finally get a supposedly 'red' government in Denmark that includes the left parties, and anyway we get cuts to our welfare and to the economies of young people whilst they're funding corporate tax reductions and warfare.”

The draft budget bill proposes abolishing the SU allowance for students who live with their parents when their parents' combined annual income exceeds 700,000 Danish kroner, about 94,000 euros. Grants would be progressively reduced for students whose parents earn between 419,589 kroner and 700,000 kroner a year. About 81,000 young people would be affected by the changes.

Oscar Tonsberg Hoffmann, president of the Danish High School Students' Association, said Denmark provides funding and economic support for education and that dismantling one of the world's strongest educational systems would be wrong. Kieran Hindshaw, a 23-year-old agronomy student, said he was infuriated that welfare cuts accompany corporate tax reductions and warfare funding.

Student protests that began in France have spread to other European countries in recent weeks. The Danish upper secondary students' association initially expected about 10,000 participants and said 19 buses brought students to Copenhagen from across the country. The proposed cuts form part of the government's budget proposal, which also allocates more money to the armed forces.