A group of young people broke into the offices of the Spanish Federation of Centers of Education this weekend and sprayed graffiti on the walls in support of “public and secular schools” and against private education.

Isabel Bazo, president of the Federation, denounced the vandalism and said that approximately twenty individuals wearing masks and wigs defaced pictures of Pope Benedict XVI and several business leaders, accusing them of manipulating young people and expressing their rejection of any form of education that is not state-sponsored.

She stressed that freedom of education is a constitutional right and that private education is necessary for the development of the country, and “it is solicited by parents and valued by society in general.”