Student protesters clogged up Montreal's Champlain Bridge during Tuesday morning's rush hour to protest the province's planned tuition fee hikes.

The protesters arrived around 7 a.m. ET and placed a row of cinder blocks across the entrance ramp onto the bridge. Dozens of students then stretched themselves across the road.

Drivers trying to cross the bridge were forced to divert to other roads toward Montreal. That led to traffic chaos throughout the city, since the bridge is an important thoroughfare for commuters entering the island of Montreal.

The students held up a large banner that read: "Stop the hikes, give us our due." They also held a large red square -- a symbol of the debt they say they will have to take on to continue their education.

The protest ended around 8:30 a.m. when a squad of police crossed the bridge and advanced toward the protesters. The students quickly dispersed, leaving behind the cinder blocks.

But police officers followed some of the demonstrators as they boarded a pair of yellow school buses. After a short drive, the buses were stopped and around 80 protesters were handed tickets for violating the Highway Safety Code. They each face fines of $350, plus $144 in fees.

Students have been protesting the tuition hikes for several weeks now. But police are warning that there will be zero tolerance for anyone blocking fast lanes.

Nevertheless, the students are planning several more demonstrations Tuesday, including a sit-in outside the Education Department offices. The protests are meant to coincide with the provincial budget, which is to be tabled later in the day.

Over the weekend, groups of students demonstrated outside a restaurant where Premier Jean Charest was eating dinner with his wife. And on Monday, students marched on the office of Quebec's education minister and blocked access to Google's new offices in Montreal, which Charest was helping to unveil.

University tuition has been frozen for 15 years in Quebec and is currently the lowest in Canada. Under the budget being introduced on Tuesday, tuition will rise by $325 per year for the next five years.

By 2017, tuition fees in Quebec will total around $4,000. While that will bring the fees closer to the current national average, they will still be among the lowest in the country.

Premier Charest has already signalled that he has no intention of backing down on the tuition fee hikes.