About 75 people took to the streets of Whitehorse Wednesday evening to stand in solidarity with striking students in Quebec.

The Quebec students have been protesting planned university tuition increases since February, when the provincial government announced a 75-per-cent increase in tuition fees to be phased in over the next five years.

Despite paying the lowest tuitions in Canada, students in Quebec say their concern is mounting student debt in increasingly challenging job markets.

The protesters have been met with police action, and earlier this month, the passing of Bill 78, an emergency law which greatly restricts freedom of assembly without prior police approval.

Solidarity marches have been held across Canada, in New York City and several locations worldwide.

The Whitehorse demonstration began at 8 p.m. on the steps of the Elijah Smith Building.

In an event dubbed "Casseroles Whitehorse”, Wednesday's organizers, Owen Williams and Lewis Rifkind, encouraged people to bang on pots and pans, offering a loud collective response to the treatment of the students more than 5,500 kilometres away.

"Pots and pans are easy and they're elegant, and everyone knows how to beat pots and pans by the time they are five,” Williams said in an interview today.

The event was predominantly organized through the group's facebook page, which had an attendance list of nearly 100 by last evening.

"It was an attempt to show that people oppose what is being done by the Quebec government,” said Williams.

"I am concerned about austerity cuts and, of course, am sympathetic to the Quebec students, but I am also concerned with Bill 78 and that something like that could be passed anywhere in Canada.”

The sound of banging pots and pans is being heard by students in Quebec, said Williams.

"Quite a few members of the francophone community came out and people were following online from Montreal,” he said.

"Bill 78 is a basic violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"From the perspective of outside media, both the Guardian and the New York Times described as draconian. Amnesty International described it as a violation of our basic rights. We need to stand up against this.”

The march proceeded down Main Street and returned to Elijah Smith by about 9 p.m.

"I thought it would be over in five or 10 minutes,” said Williams. "After about five minutes, we started banging the pots and pans.

"One thing that surprised me, though, was that everyone stayed on the right-hand side of the road. We did stop traffic, though, and saw a lot of support from people on the street.”

At one point, Premier Darrell Pasloski passed through the march.

"I think he was heading home to get his pots and pans,” Rifkind quipped this morning.

Rifkind graduated in 1989, back when tuition cost $1,300 and students were barely able to pay it if they found a "good summer job,” he said.

The Whitehorse organizers say they share the core beliefs of the student protest.

"Today, with the amount of debt students are graduating with, we are basically creating a generation of indentured servants who are forced to work either in government or for big corporations,” said Rifkind.

"Setting the system up so students have huge debt loads when they graduate is basically guaranteeing that people will have to gravitate only to the fields where they will get lots of money.

"That's not entirely a bad thing. We need doctors, lawyers and people like that, but we also need people in the fine arts to have a fully-functioning society.”

Opposition to Bill 78 also runs high among local organizers.

"I grew up in apartheid South Africa, where there was huge repression,” Rifkind said.

"Once you put that kind of restriction on one segment of society, no matter how small, you're putting it on all of us.”

It's a sentiment both Williams and Rifkind believe is shared by many others in the community.

"People were generally pleased that this was happening,” said Williams.

"One thing I was concerned about was that these issues raise a lot of anger in people, but actually, the event was very positive.”

There are other reasons to get out and protest as well, he said.

"It's amazing how loud pots and pans can be,” said Rifkind. "And walking around banging pots and pans is amazingly therapeutic.”

Whitehorse residents should get used to the sound of banging cookware.

The demonstrators plan to continue to meet every Wednesday at 8 p.m. in front of the Elijah Smith Building, as long as the Quebec protest continues.

See the latest on the dispute in Quebec