MADRID (AFP) ― Tens of thousand of striking teachers and students and their supporters demonstrated across Spain on Tuesday to protest deep government cuts to education spending.

The protesters included groups of students, young parents accompanied by their sign-holding children and teachers wearing the green T-shirts that have become a symbol of their movement against the budget cuts.

Thousands marched in Madrid behind a large black and white banner that read: “Education is not an expense, it is an investment. No to the cuts!”

Many beat drums or blew whistles as they made their way from a square near parliament to the education ministry.

Unions said 100,000 people had taken part in the protest in Madrid. Police gave no estimate.

Late Tuesday police dispersed the last groups of protesters and made three arrests.

In Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city, police said 25,000 people had marched through the streets. Unions put the figure at more than 150,000.

Protests were also held in several other cities, including Alicante, Pamplona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza.

Unions said an average of 80 percent of teachers from every level of Spain’s education system, from primary school to university, took part in the job action, but the education ministry gave a figure of just under 23 percent.

Unions are angered over government cuts worth three billion euros ($3.8 billion) to education spending this year, which will lead to larger class sizes and increase average university tuition fees to 1,500 euros from 1,000 euros.

The cuts are part of efforts by Spain’s conservative government to slash the public deficit to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product this year from 8.9 percent last year and calm market fears that it will need a financial bailout.

“It is a huge mistake to not make education a priority. Maybe if we had invested more in education the country would not be in the situation it finds itself in,” said Marisa Suarez, a 53-year-old history teacher at a Madrid high school who took part in the strike and protest march.

The strike was held in all but three of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities, which are responsible for education and health care under Spain’s highly decentralized system of government.

“The quality of public education has gotten worse year by year. It is very difficult to control a class with 35 students,” said Eduardo Sotoro, 38, who teaches maths at a Madrid high school.

Many expressed fears that qualified students will no longer be able to attend university because of the higher tuition fees at a time of unemployment of 24.4 percent for the general workforce and 52 percent for those aged under 25.

“This does not just affect teachers and students. This touches us all. I worked as a concierge which allowed me to send my daughter to university. But are her children going to be able to study?” asked 65-year-old pensioner Rogelia Fortuna at the Barcelona march.

The march was headed by a group of young children who appeared to be around six years old who held a banner that read: “What future awaits us?”

“With all these cuts, and those that are in the pipeline, I don’t know if I will be able to pay for my university studies,” said 17-year-old high school student Javier Negre at the Madrid rally.