Students, teachers protest over US education cuts

Protesters marched to the Ronald Reagan State Building, expressing anger at reduced spending proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2010 (AFP) - Students clashed with baton-wielding police as thousands took to the streets across California on Thursday in mostly peaceful protests against cuts in education spending.

Television reports showed dozens of protesters at the University of California Berkeley scuffling with police as demonstrations against fee hikes of more than 30 percent turned violent.

A crowd of several thousand marched through downtown Los Angeles to protest cuts in state funding from a public school system already struggling to cope with multi-billion-dollar cuts in recent year.

Protesters marched to the Ronald Reagan State Building, expressing anger at reduced spending proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"These are the largest cuts our students have seen since the Great Depression and they will hurt a generation of students," California Teachers Association president David Sanchez said.

"It's time to stop the cuts, have everybody start paying their fair share and start changing the conversation about additional revenues for our public schools and California's future."

Students at the University of California Los Angeles, meanwhile, gathered at the college's campus to protest fee hikes of more than 30 percent, with some brandishing signs that read: "Arnold, terminate our fees."

UCLA students were urged to walk out of classes to take part in the rally.

"All these decisions have been made sort of, I think, without the participation of the student body and without participation of those who are most affected by it," graduate student Eli Diner told Channel 2.

Protests were also being held at campuses in San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego.