CHP officers allowed several hundred students to settle on the black-and-white marble floor of the rotunda before all four hallway entrances to the area were blocked. Another hundred students sat down in a hallway, communicating with fellow protesters by call and response.
Several lawmakers watched from a second-floor balcony as the protesters later were arrested.
Outside the Capitol, hundreds of protesters who had lingered into the evening disbursed after the arrested protesters were taken away in vans. Officers in riot gear guarded the underground exits where they were taken out.
A CHP helicopter circled overhead throughout the day and evening.
Protesters spent two hours debating in call and response whether to stay after 6 p.m. and get arrested. They developed a list of core demands to present to lawmakers, including taxing the rich, educating prisoners, and funding free textbooks.
Earlier in the day, three women were arrested for disobeying an officer’s order after trying to unfurl a banner on the second floor. A man was arrested outside the building for being in possession of a switchblade knife, the CHP said.
Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement that the protest highlights the need for California voters to approve a tax increase he has proposed for the November ballot.
“The students today are reflecting the frustrations of millions of Californians who have seen their public schools and universities eroded year after year,” said Brown, a Democrat. “That’s why it’s imperative that we get more tax revenue this November.”
Brown’s initiative would fund education and public safety programs by temporarily raising income taxes on people who make more than $250,000 a year and temporarily increasing the sales tax by half a cent.
The University of California Student Association has endorsed a rival initiative that would tax millionaires and earmark the revenue for education. The California Federation of Teachers supports that initiative.
Buses brought hundreds of students in for Monday’s march from as far away as the University of California, Riverside, 450 miles south of Sacramento.
Tuition has nearly doubled in the past five years, to $13,000 for resident undergraduates at University of California schools and to $6,400 at California State University schools.
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