Education budget cuts prompted student protests, with teachers, staff, parents and others joining in at college and K-12 campuses throughout California and across the nation.
The March 4 Day of Action in Defense of Public Education included marches, strikes, teach-ins and walkouts that took on a mostly peaceful tone. Protesters carried signs, chanted, sang and told their stories to media outlets, as frustration is building over the future of the nation’s educational system.
At UCLA, several hundred students, faculty and staff held a noon-time rally and then marched through campus. Campus Safety magazine was on-site for the event and shot the following video. (Article continues below.)
In other instances, the rallies became more disruptive.
Up to 30 protesters at UC Santa Cruz smashed the rear and side windows of a car with either a hammer or a rock just before 8 a.m.
Later in the day at UC Davis, nearly 300 protesters tried to enter and block Interstate 80, prompting officers to form a human barrier and launch a ball of pepper spray to hold them back, campus police chief Annette Spicuzza told the San Francisco Chronicle. In Oakland, more than 150 people were arrested after climbing onto Interstate 880.
At least 16 people were arrested by University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Police for trying to force their way into administration offices. A university spokesman claimed some of the protesters threw punches and ice chunks.
Event organizers have pledged to continue protesting the budget cuts.
At a rally covered by Campus Safety at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif., Community College Association President DeWayne Sheaffer told about 2,000 attendees “Enough is enough – it’s time for us to take it to the streets. It’s time for us to start talking to our friends, families, neighbors and even our enemies and let them know what these cuts mean to California students. We must continue this fight. We’re not going to sit on the sidelines any longer and watch stuff happen to us.”
Teachers Union and faculty representatiaves also urged attendees, which included parents and students, to continue fighting the cuts.
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