Riga - Students in the Baltic state of Latvia marched through the capital Riga on Tuesday in protest against government cuts in education sending.

Around 1,000 students processed from the central Dome Square to the Education Ministry buildings, where they laid a funeral wreath symbolizing the death of the national education system.

The action marked a second round of protest after an event on April 9 in which students cooked potatoes outside educational establishments, arguing that was all they could afford to eat.

The student protests follow earlier demonstrations by farmers, teachers, nurses and police as the coalition government of Valdis Dombrovskis seeks to introduce an austerity budget to counter the European Union's deepest recession.

Spending on education is due to be slashed by 40 per cent and around 5,000 teachers made redundant in the next academic year according to government plans. (dpa)