Anger over a controversial student fee hike approved for the University of California system exploded Thursday into a protest on the Davis campus that ended with a show of force by authorities from throughout the region and more than 50 arrests.

As temperatures dipped into the 40s, chanting outside the school's administration building, Mrak Hall, grew to a feverish pitch. Each time a cadre of police officers clad in riot gear made entry into the building, and then exited with a passel of handcuffed students and teachers in custody, a collective cheer would sound and a new slogan uttered.

"Hell no, we won't go," was popular, as were "The students are justified, UCD is occupied" and "The students, united, will never be divided." Though tensions ran high, participants -- of which there were several hundred — emphasized that the gathering was peaceful and that no violence had occurred.

Andrew Saetern, a 21-year-old student protester, had been at a protest at the Berkeley campus earlier in the day and returned to Davis after receiving a text message about the protest.

"This has been going on since 10 a.m.," he said. "I've been here since noon. And it's not just undergrads (protesting), it's graduate students. My teacher got arrested, too." Saetern described the instructor, who teaches Spanish 2, as very supportive of the students.

"This started as 20 people, then 30, 50... We'll be here tomorrow, too," Saetern said.