In the 30 minutes before school started Thursday, Pleasanton teachers, classified staff, administrators and parents--and even many students--joined the statewide effort to support education.

Called the "Day of Action," it was a nationwide effort to protest against cuts to education.

Although the demonstrations--really rallies--were peaceful and lasted only an hour in Pleasanton, the protests were louder and more aggressive in other parts of the Bay Area.

Demonstrators got an early start at UC Santa Cruz, where protesters gathered to block both entrances to the campus, canceling most classes. By late Thursday afternoon, the west entrance to the campus had reopened as demonstrators convened to discuss possible solutions the funding cuts.

While Thursday's events were mostly peaceful, a focal point of the day occurred off-campus when some students broke the rear windshield of a car attempting to break through a picket line.

Some of the demonstrators were back early Friday morning, stopping some traffic heading onto the spacious hillside campus, although their blockade was lifted by 7 a.m.

Also Thursday, San Francisco experienced a day of demonstrations that culminated in a peaceful protest that brought together thousands of students, teachers and supporters in front of the city's Civic Center and a subsequent march.

In Oakland, an estimated 2,000 people, including some who came from an earlier rally in Berkeley, attended a peaceful rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza near 14th Street and Broadway. That rally ended at 4 p.m.

However, an estimated 150 people were arrested Thursday evening after a splinter group broke away from the larger protest and took to Interstate Highways 880 and 980, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

Additionally, one protester was seriously injured when he allegedly tried to escape police by jumping off the highway and grabbing onto a tree, Thomason said. He fell to the ground below and suffered a serious injury. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and is expected to recover.

In Contra Costa County, a large group of students held a rally at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, said Tim Leong, a spokesman for the Contra Costa Community College District. The demonstrators had a band, made speeches and marched through the campus, but the rally remained peaceful.

In the North Bay, approximately 40 people marched from Sonoma State University to a busy Rohnert Park intersection without incident Thursday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol said.

The marchers stayed off the streets and peacefully protested at a shopping center at the Rohnert Park Expressway and Commerce Boulevard intersection, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.

"We were expecting 400 people and got 40," Sloat said. "We sent officers out and determined we were not needed."