Tens of thousands of Chilean students marched in Santiago and other cities on Thursday ahead of a meeting between the education minister and leaders of the nation's largest university students group.

As many as 150,000 turned out in the capital fto express their opposition to what they see as half-hearted attempts to reform the education system.  President Michelle Bachelet agrees with the students, and wants to implement measures such as: tuition-free university education for hundreds of thousands of low-income students; the transfer of the administration of high schools from the municipalities to the Education Ministry; and the mechanisms for financing some of the measures.

But the president's plans are hamstrung by conservatives in congress who want to preserve the two-tiered legacy of the fascist dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.  She's also limited by time, because Chilean Presidents cannot serve consecutive terms.  Education Minister Adriana Delpiano says that funding any plan "will be the next administration that can see where the resources will come from".

These education rallies in Santiago are often disrupted by groups of anarchists who aren't actually part of the demonstration and who clash with cops.  On Thursday, hooded assailants stormed into a historic church on Santiago's main thoroughfare and came out with crucifix which they then destroyed in the middle of the street.