Denmark students protest planned aid cuts

Thousands of young Danes are expected to protest on Wednesday against the government's plan to cut state-paid student allowances to help fund increased defence spending.

Eleven high school and university student associations plan to gather at Copenhagen's City Hall Square from 12:30 pm local time before marching to parliament under the banner “Enough is Enough.” Copenhagen police have said they plan to be highly visible during the demonstration.

The Danish High School Students' Association said about 10,000 young people are expected in the capital, with other demonstrations also planned elsewhere in Denmark. Organisers have said the protest will be peaceful. About 30,000 high school students across 40 schools plan to strike on Wednesday.

In its draft budget bill, Denmark's centre-left government plans to abolish the state-paid student allowance, known as SU, for students who live with their parents and whose parents' total annual income is above 700,000 Danish kroner, or about $104,440. Payments would become progressive for students living with parents whose income is between 419,589 kroner and 700,000 kroner a year.

The Higher Education Ministry expects about 14,000 students to lose their grant entirely and about 8,000 to have it reduced.

The SU system, in force since 1970, has until now been available to all students over 18, including high school and university students. Students currently receive 1,154 kroner a month if they live with their parents and 7,426 kroner if they live on their own.

The government has also proposed paying unemployment benefits for recent university graduates only to those who worked during 18 of the last 24 months of their studies.

Oscar Tonsberg Hoffmann, president of the Danish High School Students' Association, accused the government of taking money from young people who are studying. Interior and Economic Affairs Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr said the proposal was a compromise inside the government, while Industry Minister Martin Lidegaard said the cuts were “not pleasant decisions” but called them economically responsible.