photo: Brandon McFarland/ BY-NC-SA

OAKLAND-- Students and teachers from across the Oakland Public School System came together in solidarity with the statewide “Day of Action” against budget cuts for education. But the energy seemed to be fading from the protestors gathered at Frank Ogawa Plaza by 3:00 p.m. As time wore on, there were impromptu speeches, and poems from students and random protestors filled the time in between updates on the marchers from UC Berkeley. Finally, when tribes of Berkeley protestors arrived, chanting, singing, and dancing to drums they carried with them, a new spirit infused those Oaklanders. At last count, City Hall had more than a thousand people at its front door and it felt like the protest had just begun.