SacCityExpress.com staffers Ian McDonald and John Reynolds attended the March in March protests at the Capitol today and sent out live updates about what’s going on.
10:10 (J.R.): City College is out in front of the Capitol in a large circle. Delta Sorority is at the steps and all eyes are watching students march in stopping traffic on Capitol Mall as they cross the bridge.
10:11 (I.M.): Police are directing traffic at Capitol Mall.
10:18 (J.R.): Sac State just marched in front of K street, lead by the Sac State Coalition. Their banner states: Accessibility. Affordability. Quality.
10:20 (J.R.): City College and Sac State join together to make an alleyway for the marchers to enter the mall area of the Capitol.
10:22 (I.M.): A lot of drummers in the march.
10:25 (J.R.): A large group of percussionists play a thunderous entrance for the marchers to come into, as City College and Sac State chant “Our future, our nation. We need our education.”
10:28 (I.M.): A sign reads “Welcome to the broke a** state.”
10:28 (J.R.): All of Capitol from 10th to the bridge is flooded and filled with protesters.
10:31 (J.R.): Students flood the front of and sides of the Capitol and the lines can be seen as far as the bridge still. Students from all over California are in attendance.
10:33 (J.R.): Tori Johnson, Contra Costa College, says “No more cuts bro. Cut classes [means] people have to sit in hall ways just to learn.”
10:37 (J.R.): City College student Robin Kelly, president of the Platinum Book Club, says “We are here to fight for our right to transfer to Sac State, for high school students needing to transfer to junior college. We are the future tax payers of America, and we maybe learners now but we will be earners later. You got your degrees, give us the right to get ours.”
10:42 (J.R.): As the crowd grows, organizers have to ask for students to squeeze together and fill in space, squeezing farther by taking three steps left.
10:44 (J.R.): Students scream loudly as they are asked to move 5 more steps to the left. Their new chant: “Kick us out we’ll vote you out.”
10:49 (J.R.): “Hey hey, ho ho, these budge cuts have got to go,” Diablo Valley College student Daija Cornelious chants before taking the time to tell me why she’s out here, “To march! The fees! The fee hikes are too much!”
10:54 (J.R.): UC Santa Cruz arrives with their education coffin going through the massive crowd.
10:59 (J.R.): “I’m fired up. Can’t take it no more!” a voice over the speakers comes out and introduces himself as Roberto Torres. Bringing order to the chanting and screaming.
11:00 (J.R.): “How are we going to be the future when we can’t get into our classes?” Torres says over the speakers.
11:02 (J.R.): Torres announces that there’s almost 15,000 participants today.
11:07 (I.M.): Crowd chanting “Students united will never be divided,” before Marty Block, chair of higher education.
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11:13 (J.R.): “We’ll fight back until we get what we want. We need to be funded.” That leads to a chant of “Won’t stop, can’t stop.”
11:21 (J.R.): “Sí se puede” erupts from the crowd before inciting the unity clap, where onlookers proceed to clap in unity.
11:25 (J.R.): “A great education should not be limited to the wealthy and privileged,” State Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico says.
11:28 (J.R.): Petitions passed about for “Si se puede,” to fight for fair tuition.
11:34 (J.R.): “Students united will never be divided” chants go up as a student introduced as Chris from Southwest Community College, shouts over the microphone.
11:36 (J.R.): “EOPS and DOPS have been cut by 39 percent,” Chris says, causing an uproar of boos and chanting of “No more cuts!”
11:40 (J.R.): Speaker Jack Scott, chancellor for California’s community colleges, says, “This year we have turned down thousands of students. We did that because the state wouldn’t give us more money.”
11:50 (J.R.): “The promises of the California Master Plan have been broken,” says California Assemblyman Warren Furutani.
11:57 (J.R.): Crowd chants Ludacris’s “Move, get out the way, get out the way…”
11:59 (J.R.): “All participants get an ‘A’ in expressing their first amendment rights,” says Assemblyman Paul Fong. He promises to continue to fight for the rights of students in higher education.
12:05 (J.R.): Crowd chants “Shame on Sacramento…”
12:08 (J.R.): Invigorated now, crowd chants “No more cuts!” as the clouds clear and let the sun shine in.
12:12 (J.R.): Looking back over the crowd, people leave and then some more keep showing up.
12:15 (J.R.): City College student sign gets called out, “Take an accountant class to learn to write a better budget.”
12:18 (I.M.): Another sign reads “Fund Hogwarts not Azkaban!”
12:23 (J.R.): Students promise to make legislature pay.
12:24 (J.R.): Announcer says text “No more cuts” to the number 69302.
12:37 (J.R.): Students are told to put their signs down and look at the number of students amassed here today. A great cheer goes through the crowd.
12:42 (J.R.): Steve Dixon ends the rally, saying “Make your voices heard and speak to your districts.”
12:44 (J.R.): Students and protesters line the ground, lounging and promoting their causes. Hundreds, if not thousands sticking around in front of the Capitol.