In the face of police brutality, thousands of students, parents, professors and others are on the streets of Valencia, Spain today in the biggest protest yet against education cuts. Protests in other Spanish cities are underway as well.

A tense standoff between demonstrators and police in Valencia, eastern Spain, threatens to spark protest across the country as school children and students start a fifth day of rallies against education cuts and heavy-handed policing. Baton-wielding police pursued demonstrators around the city as protests grew following the arrest of a 17-year-old protester from a local secondary school.

Police claimed they had been attacked by demonstrators hurling bottles and that 11 officers had been injured.

Schoolchildren and university students are at the forefront of daily protests in Valencia against a regional government gripped by corruption scandals as it imposes austerity measures to control debt and balance its budget.

Police have arrested 43 students and schoolchildren, including eight minors, in the city over the past four days.