MONTREAL - More than 7,000 of students rioted in the streets of downtown Montreal Wednesday night to protest the Quebec government's announcement that it would suspend classes for many college and university students.

Montreal police declared the protest illegal shortly after midnight Thursday, as students and supporters smashed store windows and clashed with police. Police made 122 arrests after police in riot gear moved in to disperse the crowds using tear gas.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest said Wednesday that a special law, to be tabled this week, would see courses suspended at 25 boycotted schools unless student leaders quickly reach a deal to end the strike over tuition increases in the province.

The law could allow schools to put the current semester on hold until just before the start of the fall term in August.

Critics immediately lambasted the proposed law, with some saying it will only give protesters a summer break before hostilities resume.

Earlier Wednesday, scores of students bullied their way into law classes at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), chanting slogans and waving banners.

They scrawled graffiti on the walls of campus buildings and occupied classrooms that had been forced to open after a judge granted law students the right to resume their studies.

"There were at least a hundred of them and they wore masks," one student told QMI Agency. "They screamed at us to leave the class, but we stayed. It was scary. They were threatening and violent. There were altercations."

MONTREAL - More than 7,000 of students rioted in the streets of downtown Montreal Wednesday night to protest the Quebec government's announcement that it would suspend classes for many college and university students.

Montreal police declared the protest illegal shortly after midnight Thursday, as students and supporters smashed store windows and clashed with police. Police made 122 arrests after police in riot gear moved in to disperse the crowds using tear gas.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest said Wednesday that a special law, to be tabled this week, would see courses suspended at 25 boycotted schools unless student leaders quickly reach a deal to end the strike over tuition increases in the province.

The law could allow schools to put the current semester on hold until just before the start of the fall term in August.

Critics immediately lambasted the proposed law, with some saying it will only give protesters a summer break before hostilities resume.

Earlier Wednesday, scores of students bullied their way into law classes at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), chanting slogans and waving banners.

They scrawled graffiti on the walls of campus buildings and occupied classrooms that had been forced to open after a judge granted law students the right to resume their studies.

"There were at least a hundred of them and they wore masks," one student told QMI Agency. "They screamed at us to leave the class, but we stayed. It was scary. They were threatening and violent. There were altercations."