Students at City College of San Francisco clash with police in front of Conlan Hall on March 13, 2014. (Anya Komisaryk) Students at City College of San Francisco clash with police in front of Conlan Hall on March 13, 2014. (Anya Komisaryk)

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A peaceful rally at City College of San Francisco turned violent on Thursday, as a group of protesters attempted to enter the school’s administration building, Conlan Hall, only to be met by campus police.

The rally was held to call on the school’s special trustee, Robert Agrella, to resign, and for the reversal of new policies that the group said discriminates against undocumented and poor students.

Around 1:30 p.m., the protesters tried to enter Conlan Hall, but campus police blocked the entrance to the building. The group eventually worked its way into the building, but were pushed back by campus police and officers with the San Francisco Police Department.

The physical confrontation included the use of both batons and pepper spray.

One of the students arrested was pepper sprayed during the protest at the college’s Ocean Avenue campus, and a second was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, according to City College spokesman Peter Anning.

Anning said he does not yet know whether the arrests or pepper spraying involved City College campus police or San Francisco police, who are also on the scene assisting.

KPIX 5 obtained exclusive video that shows a CCSF police officer lunging into a demonstrator, then swinging his baton at the knees of others.

Anya Komisaryk, 21, a Broadcast Journalism major at San Francisco State University, said the officer’s actions escalated the clash.

“I think the violence really got instigated by this one officer who physically attacked students,” Komisaryk said. “He is the core reason that this took a violent turn.”

“That was the height of escalation,” she said. “When he hit demonstrators, it just started getting worse and worse.”

The group Save CCSF Coalition said that the group of protesters would continue to hold a sit-in at the Ocean campus until Agrella steps down and the new payment policy is reversed.

Last year, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors installed Agrella as special trustee, stripping the elected City College board of trustees of their powers.

The change came after the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges announced it was revoking the school’s accreditation effective July 2014, citing problems with its finances and governance structure.