Hundreds of thousands of Argentinians filled the streets of the capital Buenos Aires Tuesday to protest President Javier Milei’s budget cuts to public universities.

Professors and students joined with union leaders and opposition parties to demand President Milei increase funding to higher education, which largely depends on government subsidies.

Milei has dismissed the anger over the cuts as political, and he has accused public universities of indoctrinating their students.

Milei has imposed severe across-the-board spending cuts since taking office last December as part of his austerity program, using a chainsaw during his campaign to demonstrate his goal to slash government spending to achieve a zero deficit.

The cuts have led to mass layoffs of public employees and cuts in transportation and fuel subsidies, triggering mass public demonstrations like Tuesday’s protests.

Milei says the cuts have helped the government post three months of fiscal surpluses at the start of the year.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.