Students, educators, workers, and supporters of the budding Occupy movement, converged in the thousands on the State Capitol in Sacramento on March 5th. They were there to demand that the government fund education and social services.

They came in response to a call by Occupy the Capitol put out by Occupy Education California.
In the morning, a march left Sacramento's Southside Park headed for the Capitol. There they were joined by thousands of other protesters. They came from across the state. Some had even marched for five days from San Francisco to be there. Students came from the Central Valley, Los Angeles and elsewhere in Southern California, the Bay Area, and from northern counties too.

A large rally took place on the Capitol lawn at 11 am. The crowd was diverse, mostly young, but with a healthy dose of veteran activists and elders. Student groups and campaigns, such as the petition drive to put a millionaires tax on the ballot, and community organizations such as ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), were more in evidence than teachers' unions - though there were many educators present. A few politicians where there. Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom was allowed to speak, and later sat on the floor in a hallway with protesters.

By noon, protesters were already entering into the Capitol, which remained open, but heavily guarded. Rigorous security inspections were conducted of every person entering the Capitol. A general assembly was scheduled for 1 pm, but long waits on long lines to get in, pushed that back.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Videos: Oakland Send Off for Marchers to Sacramento on Occupy Education Day of Action | Occupy the Capitol M 5 video