Madison — One by one, the groups marched their way to the state Capitol on Friday.

Here were the teachers from the Milwaukee Public Schools, setting out from the Madison Children's Museum.

There were the students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, dressed in red, walking shoulder to shoulder along State St.

And inside the Capitol itself, in the rotunda, hundreds of people were pressed up against the balconies, their voices echoing through the cavernous and elegant hall, a clamor of songs and drums and a defining chant: "This is what democracy looks like."

The protests that have swept the Capitol this week have stunned even longtime legislators for both their breadth and intensity.

"This is the biggest demonstration I've ever seen," said state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).

On Saturday, it could become even larger as tea party activists are due to stage a competing rally in support of Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill. The rally, which was organized in less than 48 hours, is due to be staged in front of the Capitol's south entry between noon and 3 p.m.

Groups backing the unions are also planning to continue demonstrations, which have been drawing tens of thousands the past two days.

Police from multiple jurisdictions, including the Capitol Police, City of Madison, Dane County Sheriff's Department and law enforcement from other counties, will be asked to provide security both inside and outside the Capitol - and to keep the demonstrators from both sides separated.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain expressed confidence that the demonstrations would come off peacefully. He said police are planning for crowds of 30,000 to 50,000.

"We're hoping for a good civil debate taking place on Capitol Square," he said. "We're prepared for anything but believing at this point that we'll have no major problems."

During this past week, nine people have been arrested during the protests. There were no arrests reported on Friday, when crowds swelled outside the Capitol.

"The crowds are big on both sides," said Tim Phillips, executive director of Americans for Prosperity, which helped organize the tea party event. "It will be boisterous. Our people are civil, and I certainly hope and expect for the public employee unions to be the same way.

"We know there will be a whole lot of union folks there. It's their right. It's their capital. It's everyone's capital."

On Friday, the Capitol continued to be ground zero for labor activists who oppose Walker. The nearly weeklong protest has morphed into a full-blown national effort by organized labor to beat back what they claim is an attack on workers' rights.

National AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said workers are already here from Illinois and Pennsylvania, and others were on their way from New Jersey.

But make no mistake: The vast majority of protesters appear to be from Wisconsin.

"Things are happening organically, spontaneously," said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO.

He said those helping the demonstrations "are just notifying us. This is not outside people. It's all Wisconsin people."

Amid accusations from Republicans that the White House and Democratic Party have helped direct the Madison protests from the outside, party officials in D.C. said the charge was vastly exaggerated.

On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee was touting its own engagement in the Wisconsin protests.

But as charges flew Friday about President Barack Obama intervening in the state fight, the party was playing down its efforts in what were massive local protests by any standard.

The Obama political operation, Organizing for America, e-mailed its supporters encouraging them to get involved, according to the DNC.

"This is a grass-roots story not a Washington one. Our volunteers in Wisconsin were getting involved and asked us to let others in the state know what was happening. Our role in this is being exaggerated by others to distract attention from the passionate grass-roots activism that is being displayed on the ground in Wisconsin," said DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan in a statement.

But the national support has clearly been dwarfed by local workers protesting Walker's plan to eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public-service unions.

Pouring into city

Thousands of state and local teachers, clerical workers, firefighters and nurses, some bringing along children in strollers, have joined high school and college students in encircling the Capitol as they demand Walker scale back his budget measure.

They've turned the Capitol rotunda into a giant arena, the drums and cheers making it sound as if a pep rally had broken out.

About the only thing missing here are legislators.

Democratic senators left the state to prevent Walker's bill from moving through the Legislature, while a majority of Republicans have mostly remained inside their offices.

"I am teaching civics to my students. I'm showing them what democracy is about," said William Kolb, a history teacher at Cherokee Heights Middle School in Madison.

Kolb was adamant that union members, including members of his own teachers union, were willing to make concessions to balance budgets and right the financial ship.

"We will share the pain," he said. "But to take away our bargaining rights is not right."

While many have said the rallies are driven by the huge outpouring of educators from school districts around the state, it was easy to spot union members from the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Teamsters, and AFSCME.

Over at the Concourse Hotel, members of the AFL-CIO in Wisconsin were busy handing out food and drinks to protesters. Jose Bucio, an affiliate service coordinator for the AFL-CIO, said union members were grilling 6,000 brats a day for hungry protesters.

"Plus the buns," he said.

Bucio has been in the union movement for 39 years. He was busy on his cell phone, directing union truck drivers to the right location to drop off additional supplies.

"We're trying to get more and bigger (food) donations from companies," Bucio said.

Linda Kieper, a social studies teacher at Milwaukee Hamilton High School, marched with hundreds of other MPS teachers who arrived at the noon rally Friday.

"I hope this changes a few minds," Kieper said.

Rose Koenings and her five friends drove up from the UW-Whitewater, where she is an English major, because she wanted to see the protest firsthand.

The six were on the second floor of the Capitol, looking down at the rotunda watching the drumming, the singing, the chanting and the cheering.

"I came here for all of the teachers who taught me and helped me in school," she said Friday night. "I wouldn't be in school without them."

Koenings, 20, couldn't believe how many people were inside the building.

"It is a lot of people. I've never been to a political demonstration before."

But she knows why thousands have showed up to protest Walker's bill.

"I feel strongly that everyone should have a right to a union," she said. "That should never be taken away."

John and Kristina Crives, a young married couple living in Madison, said they were protesting because of the potential impact the measure would have on Kristina's job.

Kristina is not a member of a labor union, but works at the WEA Credit Union. She said she was concerned the bill, if passed, would mean the elimination of her job.

"They are scared," added her husband.

Craig Gilbert in Washington, D.C., and Daniel Bice in Milwaukee, both of the Journal Sentinel staff, contributed to this report.