Students shut down Northern California freeway while protesting campus funding cuts

Protesting students shut down Oakland freeway

OAKLAND, Calif. — A major San Francisco Bay area freeway has been shut down in both directions by college students protesting budget cuts at California campuses.

About 150 people who were part of a much larger group demonstrating in downtown Oakland clambered onto the I-880 freeway at the beginning of the evening rush hour Thursday.

Aerial footage shot by television station KTVU showed people with banners spread out across the road, forming a barrier to lines of cars that stood stopped some distance away.

KTVU says Oakland police are calling for more officers.

The freeway closure came at the end of a day of protests and rallies at college campuses nationwide to draw attention to rising tuition and class cuts.