On Oct. 10, hundreds of protestors filled Boston Common to march with the Occupy movement. Students, staff and faculty from all five of the UMass campuses turned out to voice their frustration at the current economic system and its effect on the cost of education.

UMB graduate student Tamzid Chowdhury said he’s tired of seeing public education undermined in Massachusetts.

“I’m here because I’m frustrated with the way this system exploits everyone,” Chowdhury said. “I am especially frustrated by the 8 percent fee hike at UMB because like a lot of things it was done in a very undemocratic way and will put UMB out of the financial reach of a lot of students.”

The march began at 2 p.m. Student representatives from the all campuses gathered with members of the UMB Professional Staff Union (PSU), the Faculty Staff Union (FSU) and the Classified Staff Union (CSU) in the Common before marching through Downtown Crossing and the Financial District around Dewey Square, then back through Downtown Crossing, eventually settling on the Charleston Bridge. Protesters remained camped on the bridge until rumor spread that the police would attempt to remove the tents set up in Dewey Square Park.

A media representative of Occupy Boston called the march a success. In an interview he said, “We have gathered a broad base of support. I think we are speaking to the hearts and minds of the bottom 99 percent.”

Throughout the march, free water and cough drops where dispensed to the crowd. The leaders of the movement instructed protestors on how to behave in the threat of violence and encouraged to write the National Lawyers Guild phone number on their person.

UMB’s involvement in the march was organized last week through a network of alliances built between the PSU, FSU, CSU, all local members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and members of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the ISO. The FSU is made up of people hired specifically to teach. The PSU is made up of faculty including researchers, student advisors, I.T. and administrative staff in the different colleges at UMB. The CSU consists of administrative assistants and maintenance workers.

Rob Birmingham, a student organizer for the USG, stated that the UMB protestors were there to advocate for students.

“We are upset about the high price of state schools, the lack of funding education receives and the financial stress of balancing work, family and school,” Birmingham said.

Anneta Argyes, the vice president of the PSU, said the PSU helped organize Monday’s march because the Occupy movement is confronting a problem that has plagued UMB for years.

“As a union we stand for the importance of higher education for the commonwealth and society as a whole,” Argyes said. “As unionized workers we should have a say in how our institution operates, which includes having a say in how polices that effect our institution are established. ”

Argyes, speaking on behalf of the PSU, also expressed support for the Occupy movement itself.

“The PSU Chapter Board has voted to support Occupy Boston’s efforts to draw public media attention to the growing social, economic and political inequalities in our country,” Argyes said. “We share their concerns about the shrinking public funding of higher education and other public services, their frustration that working and poor people are paying the price of failed economic policies and their anger at the growing political power of the 1 percent mega-wealthy.”

PSU’s first action taken to support the Occupy movement was to raise $300 to be spent on goods like sleeping bags and food for the “everyday occupiers.”

The Occupy movement began as Operation Empire State Rebellion (OPESR), a faction of Anonymous, a notorious internet hacker group.

OPESR Communication #1, a video originally broadcast on March 12 of this year, is considered by some to be the spark that ignited the fire.

“We demand that the primary dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy, effective immediately,” the video says.

Protesting originally began in New York City, where people gathered in a park across from Wall Street on Sept. 17. Boston is one of 25 cities nationwide that now have protests organized by the Occupy movement.