Cops in riot gear keep an eye on protesters at UCLA

Nov. 19, 2009 | By Patricia Nazario | KPCC

Patricia Nazario/KPCC

UC police arrest 21-year-old UCLA senior, Maritza Santian. She was standing a few feet away from barricades, with a walkie-talkie, relaying police activity to a self-appointed group of “student” security.

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About 100 University of California police officers tried to keep student protests under control on the UCLA campus today. Officers wore riot gear and used barricades and pepper ball rifles during demonstrations against the student fee increases the UC Regents approved.

Chanting, “No cuts. No fees. Education should be free," hundreds of UC students from Northern and Southern California participated in the protest.

UC Irvine English major Diana Phuong bundled together three months’ rent to buy 500 T-shirts to give out to her fellow demonstrators.

Police arrested a 21-year-old UCLA senior, Maritza Santian. She stood near barricades, with a Walkie-Talkie, relaying police activity to a self-appointed group of student security monitors.

“I’m really frustrated," she shouted. At what? At the regents? At the police? At the barricades?

Santian wasn’t able to answer before officers hauled her away.

Amid the protests, the regents voted to raise student fees by 32 percent.

The cost of an education at one of the 10 UC campuses will rise by nearly $600 in the spring, then another $1,300 next fall.

For the first time, it’ll cost more than $10,000 dollars a year for a student to attend the University of California. Protesters say the fee increases will keep a quality education beyond the reach of many students from working families.

UC Regents say the fee hike is necessary because the system faces a half-billion dollar budget deficit – largely because the state has cut spending on education.

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