Chanting "The Jena 6 must be released! No justice, no peace!" almost 100 University of Texas students marched Thursday in support of black students facing criminal charges in central Louisiana.

The Jena 6 are six young black men who were arrested and initially charged with attempted second-degree murder after a schoolyard fight with a white classmate.

The fight stemmed from an incident in which nooses were hung from a tree at Jena High School. White students traditionally sat under that tree until one day some black students did. The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree – which the black community saw as a reference to lynching.

Racial tensions in Jena had already been high. Nooses were hanged in a tree at the high school months before the fight. Three white students involved were briefly suspended.

In Austin, the coalition of student organizations called "Concerned Black Students" marched from Gregory Gymnasium to the West Mall on UT's campus. It coincided with marches in Jena and across the country.

		WATCH THE VIDEO
	Jena 6 protests News 8's Catie Beck reports from the University of Texas.

"In the way that this is happening right now and how the U.S. and different people try to say that race is not an issue anymore. It really is. I mean, it's out there and people try to cover up with something. I mean as a black male I've been a part of racism and my father has been part of racism and I believe my son will be part of racism, but I hope not," student Aaron Harris said.

The protests in Louisiana dwarfed Jena's population of 3,500 people. The streets of the small town were filled with demonstrators, including Martin Luther King III and Reverend Al Sharpton said.

King said while punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people.''

Sharpton said it could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement.

District Attorney Reed Walters denies racism was involved. He says the beating victim's suffering has been largely ignored. The teen was knocked unconscious and his face was badly swollen and bloodied, although he was able to attend a school function that night.

Accusations of racism arose when the six were charged, but Walters declined to charge the white teens who hung nooses in a tree in the first incident. Robert Bailey, Jr., Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and an unidentified minor faced the charges of attempted murder, which were reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned. The sixth was charged as a juvenile.

Bell, the first of the six to go to trial, was tried as an adult and found guilty. He could have faced 22 years in prison but his conviction was overturned. Today is the date Bell was supposed to be sentenced.