Dozens of Occupy Cal Berkeley Demonstrators Arrested

Occupy Cal Berkeley demonstrators was arrested on Thursday, a day after 39 were taken into custody when they pitched tent in Sproul Plaza during clashes with police in riot gear.

California students are continuing a movement to protest the budget cuts and tuition hikes.

Television news footage of the incident showed students clashing with the police and they were pushed back with batons as the crowd chanted, We are the 99 percent! and Stop Beating Students!

I think that both University leadership and local council were very keen to try to prevent any occupations, Marquis-Boire, a protestor of Occupy San Francisco who joined the Day of Action at Berkeley, told HuffPost. That's why they went to the force so quickly, to dissuade people from setting up tents.

The students were genuinely shocked by how quickly the police resorted to force.

We were just standing there with a bunch of tents, Shadrick Small, a UC Berkeley graduate student trying to block police from dismantling the camp, said. And their first response is just to come in and start hitting people. The reaction is just over the top.

Sean Semans, a student protestor said he knows students' worry about being expelled from school or being physically hurt on account of their participation in the walkout, HuffPost reported.

It's been a broken system for years, Semans said, and the response has been to silence the people who want to try to voice their opinion about the system.

It's said that the tuition of California college students increased just a few weeks before the beginning of this semester and the students were not aware of it.

Their tuition and fees may increase by 81 percent over the next four years,according to Huffingtonpost.

Some professors and lecturers in California joined Wednesday's walkout with students, protesting the pay cut since last year. At least one professor was arrested in the walkout.

The sentiment among students has been one of frustration and confusion as to how our elected officials can be doing our state such an injustice, University of California student President Vishalli Loomba said. Investing in the public higher education system of this state is investing in the future of this state, and I don't think anyone can argue with that.

It's never in our interest to arrest our students or any of our community members, Sfgate.com quoted from Claire Holmes, UC Berkeley spokeswoman as saying. That was unfortunate, but we just feel very strongly that we can't have encampments on our campus.

For that reason, the university officials told the protesters they are welcome to meet and demonstrate on campus night and day as long as they don't camp or cook.

State legislators and labor unions showed their support of Wednesday's walkout. Meanwhile, Loomba and External Affairs Vice President Joey Freeman of Associated Students of UC backed the walkout in an editorial.

California's mission statement for public education California Master Plan promised to guarantee a college education to any student who wanted it for free. Protestors now plan not to give up without a fight.