The historic day of demonstrations in the Bay Area and beyond was largely peaceful, with students and others carrying signs like “Chop from the top,” a reference to what they see as puffed-up executive salaries… But…(m)ore than 150 protesters were arrested on Interstate 880 in Oakland after using an exit ramp to walk onto the freeway and shut it down for nearly an hour. Many wore black, identified themselves as anarchists and carried a banner that read, “Occupy everything.” The action just before 5 p.m., which backed up rush-hour traffic for miles, came after a peaceful rally at Oakland City Hall. Police in riot gear chased and tackled some demonstrators. One was taken away in an ambulance after falling from the freeway onto a road below, witnesses said. Police said the man was expected to survive…

Hundreds rallied at the state Capitol in Sacramento… Some students at Oceana High School in Pacifica formed an “SOS” on a beach, while in San Francisco more than 50 Commodore Sloat Elementary fifth-graders boarded a Muni bus to the State Building. Each wore a handmade sandwich board sign protesting budget cuts to schools…Many of the day’s protesters, including Jennie Lew, said the issue was personal. Wearing a “Pissed-off parent” T-shirt at San Francisco State University… she said she and her husband were struggling to keep up with rising tuition. The couple are graduates of UC Berkeley and were educated on federal aid and scholarships, Lew said, becoming members of what she described as the “educated middle class.” Now, she said, her sons’ graduation dates have been delayed because classes have been trimmed and teachers laid off…

California’s $20 billion budget gap this year, on top of $60 billion last year, has resulted in soaring tuition at the University of California and California State University. Courses are jammed, and many students can’t get in at all. Lecturers have been laid off and employees furloughed. CSU wouldn’t let new students enroll at all this semester. More than 200,000 students will be turned away from community colleges next fall because there won’t be enough classes for them, community college Chancellor Jack Scott said. According to the California Teachers Association, school districts across the state have issued almost 19,000 pink slips to public school teachers, warning that they may lose their jobs at the end of the semester.