More than 50,000 students, unionized teachers, and social activists took to the streets in Santiago, Chile on Thursday to demand dramatic reforms to the nation’s education system ahead of next month’s presidential elections.

The education reform movement, which demands the return of public control over schools and universities and ‘free education,’ has been an increasingly important voice in Chilean politics in recent years with large street protests and organized opposition to the ruling conservative government of President Sebastián Piñera.

On Thursday, according to the Santiago Times, the student-led protests came out in force in order to “send a message to the next government” and promised that their revolt would continue until their demands are answered with real policy changes.

“There is no way this social outcry will stop next year,” Moisés Paredes, spokesman for the highschool student association Cones, said.

“The message we want to send to the next government is that it can’t pretend there won’t be demonstrations next year, that this is all settled, that everything can be resolved with discussions of their education programs,” Paredes told The Santiago Times. “On the contrary, it is crucial to understand that next year the movement will be more present than ever.”

The Santiago Times continued:

And Global Post adds:

Photos captured the street protests on Thursday and some of the violent confrontations which culminated:

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