Hundreds of UT students protested the war with Iraq Thursday by shutting down several blocks on The Drag.
Their goal: to make sure campus life wasn't "business as usual."
Dozens of police officers were on hand to keep crowds under control. However, this major disruption to traffic was still considered a peaceful protest.
College and high schools students walked out of class chanting and carrying protest signs.
The rally didn’t initially go as planned. Demonstrators had to leave the South Mall because they didn’t have proper campus permits. They then decided to march to the West Mall and take over The Drag on Guadalupe.
"Those of you who do not want to get arrested, you can leave or try to stay in the middle and hope for good luck," one organizer was overheard saying.
Along with the idealism that comes with a protest, these students of the 21st century had long sleeves and duct tape in hand to lock down The Drag for several blocks and several hours.
"We're not going to allow business as usual to go on while millions of people potentially are going to be killed. It's drastic times and it calls for drastic measures," UT student John Nathan said.
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UT protest
Protesters began on the UT campus and marched to the State Capitol.
 
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"The people here who have locked down believe that silence is complacency. To remain silent is to agree with it, and that's something we can't live with," UT student Katie Pace said.
The locked down protesters were prepared to go to jail to their make their point. Just in case the protest called for it, 40 police officers stood by. As long as they didn’t destroy any property or create any problems, APD Commander Harold Piatt was going to allow the demonstration. Since APD knew about the protest beforehand, Piatt said traffic was not an issue.
