The students marched from the central square – Rådhuspladsen – in Copenhagen to the parliament, focusing on three demands: “Stop the budget cuts in the billion class!”, “Improve quality”, “Invest in the future”.

Student organisations claimed the real number of protesters was 40,000. Copenhagen police said between 10,000 and 15,000 had taken to the streets in the capital, while half that number demonstrated in Denmark´s second largest city, Aarhus, according to Danish daily BT.

The government has said it needs to cut the budget for upper secondary education and universities by two percent each year over the next four years, arguing that the country already spends more on education per capita than any other nation.