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26 teachers were arrested during a protest at the Capitol over education budget cuts last night, reports the Huffington Post. The arrests occurred just after the building was supposed to close at 6:00 p.m. An officer with the California Highway Patrol, the group that made the arrests, said that teachers had been warned a number of times that they had to leave and did not comply:
"They chose not to leave, leaving us with no option but to physically remove them," said CHP Officer Sean Kennedy.
The protests were part of a weeklong demonstration to let lawmakers know that teachers do not support the proposed budget cuts. According to the San Jose Mercury News:
David Goldberg, who said he was a teacher from Los Angeles, said he was willing to be arrested to protest what he said are lawmakers balancing the state budget "on the backs of our students."