By Brandon McFarland

OAKLAND-After an hourlong rally on the Laney College campus filled with heartfelt performance and powerful speeches, close to 250 students and teachers took to the streets, heading towards Frank Ogawa Plaza in protest of education cuts across the state. By 12:15 p.m., crowds of protesting youth, including pre-teens, began to join the march as it rounded the corner of 14th Street and Lakeside Drive, growing it to at least 500. About 100 signs reading “Schools Not Jails” and “Chop From The Top,” dozens of students with megaphones, a handful of motorcycle police, and a growing number of onlookers filled 14th Street from sidewalk to sidewalk. It only took protestors 30 minutes to reach their destination.  

Oakland Police Department Public Information Officer Holly Joshi said there are no plans to have a huge showing of police today. She said this protest isn’t comparable to the street marches that happened in the city more than a year ago, after the Oscar Grant murder. "They're two different issues, two different groups. We're not going to have a SWAT team there, but we are going to be prepared. The goal is to facilitate people's right to free speech.”