Sacramento<\/a> gathered Friday at the California State Capitol to protest immigration enforcement and call for changes.<\/p>\nThe demonstration began late in the morning, as students arrived with backpacks still on their shoulders and signs in their hands. A permit for the protest ran from 11:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. and estimated about 700 protesters. While an exact count was not available, the crowd grew to at least several hundred students at its peak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just got out here about ten minutes ago,\u201d said Colby Pike, a student protester who said he and others left school at the end of first period.<\/p>\n
By noon, what started as smaller groups had grown into a large crowd filling the Capitol grounds. Students chanted and held signs as they made their message clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m amazed by the turnout. I thought it was going to be less than this,\u201d said Termir Knox, a student protester. \u201cI\u2019m glad that some kids are out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knox said he and his classmates traveled from John F. Kennedy High School by light rail and bus to attend the protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty packed light rail, pretty packed bus, but we got here, and we\u2019re here, and we\u2019re going to protest,\u201d Knox said.<\/p>\n
Students said their concerns go beyond missing class time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re sick of our people getting killed in the street. We are sick of people getting detained for being American citizens. We want justice, and we want it now,\u201d said Letticcia Cummings, a student protester.<\/p>\n
\u201cKilling citizens without a right to, it\u2019s just unnecessary, and we as a country need to communicate a more humane message,\u201d said Ella Shaw, another student protester.<\/p>\n
According to protest organizers, the demonstration called for the abolition of ICE and for Sacramento City Council members to reaffirm the city\u2019s sanctuary city status.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re killing families, they\u2019re taking families. It\u2019s not good,\u201d Pike said, adding that the protest was peaceful. \u201cWe\u2019re being peaceful. Holding our signs. We\u2019re not throwing stuff, not doing anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
California Highway Patrol officers and Sacramento police were on standby during the event. At one point, demonstrators marched from the Capitol to the John Moss Federal Building before returning. Some streets were closed temporarily, but there were no reports of violence.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Sacramento City Unified School District said it supports students exercising their First Amendment rights. The district added that while the protest was described as a \u201cdistrict-wide event,\u201d it was not organized or endorsed by the district, and students who participated were marked absent.<\/p>\n
The district said parents will need to contact their schools regarding student absences related to the protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be able to come out here and protest because that\u2019s our First Amendment right,\u201d Knox said. \u201cI love to see kids out here advocating for themselves.”<\/p>\n
As the crowds began to thin later in the afternoon, some students reflected on the impact of the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very powerful,” Cummings said. “It shows that we have a voice and we\u2019re going to use our voice and if we don\u2019t see something that\u2019s right, we\u2019re going to stand up for it.”<\/p>\n
Watch more from ABC10:\u00a0Rep. Harder frustrated after first visit to ICE facility in Stockton<\/a><\/p>\n ABC10: Watch, Download, Read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A permit for the protest said around 700 demonstrators were expected. Students from several Sacramento schools showed up.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-157260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}