Barcelona - Hundreds of Spanish students Thursday disrupted traffic, causing traffic jams in the Barcelona region in protests at the temporary expulsion of six students.

The six had been accused of staging violent incidents against the so-called Bologna university reform.

A protest movement against the reform based on a 1999 declaration and signed by 46 European countries has spread through some half a dozen Spanish universities.

Students fear that the reform aimed at modernizing and internationalizing university education will reduce state funding of studies, link universities more closely with private companies and threaten the study of subjects less useful for business interests, such as the humanities.

The Spanish authorities say the students have misunderstood the meaning of the reform. (dpa)