MONTREAL - Three protesters were arrested in an otherwise relatively calm day of student tuition hike protests.

The arrests were made after two police cars were spray-painted outside the St. Urbain St. police headquarters. One was sprayed with pink paint, the other an anarchist symbol. Graffiti was also painted on the Cegep du Vieux-Montreal and a city bus.

"Three girls were seen painting graffiti, but the police opted to wait until the end of the march to make the arrests," said police representative Yannick Ouimet.

One of the groups burned an effigy of Premier Charest. One protester, his face covered in a purple mask, said students who burned the effigy were just letting off a little steam.

"There's a lot tension and it was just a way of expressing our frustration," said the man, who did not want to provide his name.

Thursday's demonstrations began at Phillips Square at noon, and then proceeded along four separate routes throughout the downtown core. All four groups, totalling about 10,000 people, expect to reach the Quartier des Spectacles at some point in the late afternoon.

The student group Coalition large de l'Association pour une solidarite syndicale etudiante (CLASSE) organized the rally, and says the four routes are designed to paralyze "the illegitimate economic elite" and cause widespread disruption.

The marches stretched from Guy St. to Papineau Ave., and from Sherbrooke St. to St. Antoine St., although the routes may change without notice.

CLASSE called the protest the Grand Masquerade, and asking its supporters to show up wearing masks and elaborate costumes.

Each route was distinguished by its own theme and colour.

The Yellow route denounced students who oppose the protests; Orange signified opposition to police brutality; Blue denounced government suggestions that lost class time cannot be made up; Green represents those calling for not just a freeze on tuition, but a complete elimination of post-secondary tuition fees.

"There's been a lot of hostility at picket lines where just because people don't understand they should go to their general assemblies and if their general assemblies take a collective decision they should respect that whether or not that was the vote that they cast," said Concordia student Annelise Grube-Caver, who was marching with the yellow group. 

David Douglas, a part-time faculty, Film Studies professor at Concordia University, says he supports the protesters.

"You cannot expect people to begin a career in their lives without some recognition that 20, 30, 40 thousand dollars will prevent them from doing all kinds of things which are a benefit to society," said Douglas. 

"With this march we wanted to show that there's a lot of violence in society, it will be a really pacific, peaceful march but the point is to show how the police state has a really repressive arm which is the police," said Alexandre Beaudry, a UQAM student who was walking with the orange group.

Protests at Montreal courthouse

On Thursday morning several dozen students appeared in court following a clash with police on Feb. 17, 2012 at CEGEP du Vieux Montreal.

Those hearings were delayed when about 100 protesters stormed into the courthouse corridors, screaming "Liberate our comrades!"

It turns out the 29 people facing charges were not in police custody and were free to go about their business while the legal process continues.

Once police officer told the demonstrators that their protest was unlawful and they were not allowed in the building, they left soon after.

They were told that they were welcome to stay and watch proceedings as long as they obeyed the normal rules of being respectful in court, not concealing their faces and being quiet, but they all refused.

After the demonstration court hearings proceeded, and 29 people who stayed overnight at CEGEP du Vieux Montreal were charged with obstruction of justice, illegally occupying a building, and a handful were charged with mischief.

Their legal fees are being covered by CLASSE.

"At the beginning of the strike we decided to create a legal committee for the students who we imagined would be arrested during the strike," said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

"This committee is formed by law students of a few universities in Montreal and we are also working with lawyers in Montreal to be sure to have a full follow-up for people arrested during the strike."

Meanwhile other law students were in court Thursday to oppose the strike.

Guillaume Charette says in a court filing that students who have paid for classes should have the right to attend without obstruction or harassment.

The Universite de Montreal law student was in court Thursday seeking injunctions against his student association, his student union, his university and an umbrella group of student groups that is one of the main protest organizers.

Charette says he was unable to go to class on two specific days in the past week. He says that the notion of a so-called student "strike" doesn't make sense because students are more like consumers than unionized workers.

Charette argues that individual students have a right to protest but it shouldn't compel everyone to follow suit. He's also asking his university to make up classes cancelled during the protests.

"The present request is aimed at clarifying the rights of students to attend their courses without obstruction, harassment, intimidation or interruption," he wrote in a motion filed in Quebec Superior Court this week.

"They have paid for these courses, the Quebec government has paid the university for them."

Charette, who is graduating this year, has a week left in his semester.

To obtain a preliminary injunction, Charette must demonstrate an urgency in his application and must prove that he suffered irreparable harm.

Justice Luc Lefebvre is to rule on the motion on Friday.

Beauchamp's warning

Meanwhile Education Minister Line Beauchamp says student protesters are putting their own education at risk.

She said that it will be difficult to readjust schedules so that classes and exams can be wrapped up by the end of the winter semester, and pointed out that the situation is particularly crucial for students at five CEGEPS where students have refused to attend class for more than five weeks.

At issue is the contract the government has with teachers that guarantees them two months of summer vacation.

Beauchamp reiterated on Thursday that any attempt to stall or change the $1625 university tuition fee hike by 2017 is non-negotiable, but that the government is willing to look at changes to its loans and bursaries programs.

With files from The Canadian Press