Uruguayan Government Evicts Students in Protest

On Wednesday night, the security forces controlled by the administration of President Luis Lacalle evicted students who had occupied 10 schools to demand an increase in the budget for education.

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The evictions were coordinated by the Interior Minister, which accepted a request submitted by the Education Training Council (CFE) of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP).

In various cities of the country, students occupied teacher training centers to reject the educational reform, demand improvements in infrastructure, and denounce cuts in the education budget.

A group of lawmakers went to the centers where the students were protesting in Montevideo, where they were able to verify police brutality against unarmed citizens. The images of the events were posted on social networks by Marcel Rossi, a member of the Faculty of Law.

The tweet reads, "They can cover the walls but they can never erase our memory or our conviction. Covering our walls is the perfect metaphor for what the Government is doing with our education. An internal insight is devastating."

The Uruguayans demanded that a dialogue process be carried out so that their request are known by the authorities. Meanwhile, they were willing to occupy the educational institutions as a measure of pressure.

"The right to education can be made effective if there are adequate teaching spaces, if there are no shortage of scholarships, if centers are not flooded, if classrooms are not overcrowded, or if study conditions are not deregulated," the IPA Student Center said in a statement.

The student leaders indicated that they will continue to fight for more budget for education and greater participation in the decision-making institutions.