California Teachers Arrested During Education Protest

65 protesters arrested total

California police arrested at least 65 protesters calling for tax hikes to pay for education programs as they refused to leave the capitol rotunda after it had closed.

The arrests follow a week-long event dubbed a “State of Emergency" for California’s education system run by the California Teacher Association. The group hopes the protests pressure the state legislature into renewing and raising taxes to prevent cuts to school budgets and state education programs.

The arrests were made after protesters refused to follow the orders of police officers which insisted they leave the capital building as it was closing.

"We're not just here to lobby. We're here to raise some hell," Betty Olson-Jones, president of the Oakland Education Association told The Raw Story.

"This whole system is being destroyed, needed services are being killed, the richer are getting richer, we have to do something to reverse that," another protester told FOX40.

Protesters chanted “Tax, tax, tax the rich, we can solve the deficit,” insisting cuts do not need to be made if taxes are raised on California’s richer income earners.

California Democratic Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic state lawmakers want to raise taxes by extending taxes set to expire over the summer, but to do so they need votes from Republicans in the state legislative bodies. Republicans are refusing to cooperate.

"It's an opportunity for us to live within our means and do the right thing, and still protect schools and law enforcement and the things that I believe are important to taxpayers and what taxpayers believe they're paying taxes for in the first place," said Republican Assemblywoman Connie Conway, arguing that new or extended taxes are not needed.

Link to story...

Bahahaaha. We can't even protest anymore, and apparently don't have the right to assemble. Another violation of the constitution.

reply to post by Bonified Ween


Yea, and a Chicago school bans kids from bringing their lunch to school. Madness!

Thank god the police were there to stop those bad teachers! Yay for police protecting us!

reply to post by Bonified Ween


You can only protest between the hours of 8-5. Anytime after that, you will be arrested

So free speech has time limits. I say fu*$ time!

Couldnt they have just moved the protest outside?

If you gotta close you gotta close.

Protesting is one thing but obstruction and trespass are entirely different things.

you cant help but like somebody that declares their agenda is to "raise some hell"...and as usual, the fascists should be ashamed of themselves...i dont understand how so many people can be on board with blindly destroying freedom just to pull down a paycheck...

If Cali stopped giving free education, food, housing, etc to illegal immigrants they wouldn't have these budget issues. So until the people are realistic about the high cost of allowing illegal immigration, nothing will get better.

They were arrested because the place had closed and they wouldn't leave. Why didn't they just move outside and protest?

Oh yeah, getting arrested will bring more publicity.

Nothing was said that they couldn't protest outside. They just chose not to. It's like people just post without reading the link. Or else reading comprehension is non-existent with some ATS'ers.

California law requires a 2/3 majority in the State Assembly for anyting tax-related to pass. So of course it's the Republicans fault now that they don't have enough votes.

Originally posted by rstregooski
65 protesters arrested total

California police arrested at least 65 protesters calling for tax hikes to pay for education programs as they refused to leave the capitol rotunda after it had closed.

The arrests follow a week-long event dubbed a “State of Emergency" for California’s education system run by the California Teacher Association. The group hopes the protests pressure the state legislature into renewing and raising taxes to prevent cuts to school budgets and state education programs.

The arrests were made after protesters refused to follow the orders of police officers which insisted they leave the capital building as it was closing.

"We're not just here to lobby. We're here to raise some hell," Betty Olson-Jones, president of the Oakland Education Association told The Raw Story.

"This whole system is being destroyed, needed services are being killed, the richer are getting richer, we have to do something to reverse that," another protester told FOX40.

Protesters chanted “Tax, tax, tax the rich, we can solve the deficit,” insisting cuts do not need to be made if taxes are raised on California’s richer income earners.

California Democratic Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic state lawmakers want to raise taxes by extending taxes set to expire over the summer, but to do so they need votes from Republicans in the state legislative bodies. Republicans are refusing to cooperate.

"It's an opportunity for us to live within our means and do the right thing, and still protect schools and law enforcement and the things that I believe are important to taxpayers and what taxpayers believe they're paying taxes for in the first place," said Republican Assemblywoman Connie Conway, arguing that new or extended taxes are not needed.

Link to story...

edit on 11-5-2011 by rstregooski because: content

Good. Arrest the sexist, chauvinistic bigots and keep them locked up. If teachers only want to teach half the population that is the PC gender then they should be paid half.

Having read the article, the following can be stated:
The right to assemble and protest are protected within the law of the country. We can gather together and protest, along with demanding and holding our elected officials accountable for their actions. When the voting public is not happy with the way the government is working, then they have in the past voted the people out, and faster than many politicians would be happy about. However, there is a fine line, and based off of the article, the people who were arrested, deserved it. They were there, when the politicians were present, however, they were in the process of trying to close the capitol for the night, and they were asked to leave. There was no reason to stay there, as the very people they were trying to get their message across to, were not there. There was nothing to say that they could not come back in the morning. They refused and thus they were arrested, and maybe they will learn that there is a time and a place for everything, including protests and demonstrations.