Protest in Westwood

UCLA students sit in the middle of the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards, where traffic was shut down for hours Wednesday. Eleven people were arrested on suspicion of failing to disperse. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Nov. 9, 2011 12 AM PT

Traffic in Westwood was badly snarled Wednesday afternoon because of a student protest and street sit-in against the cost of higher education and the banking industry’s purported role in it.

After a march by about 200 protesters from the UCLA campus, several of them sat down in the busy intersection of Westwood and Wilshire boulevards and refused to move for about an hour. The result was traffic chaos in Westwood, which otherwise is clogged because of construction on the 405 Freeway that runs along its western border.

Shortly after 3 p.m., police arrested 11 people blocking the intersection on suspicion of refusal to disperse, said Norma Eisenman, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Traffic began to flow again soon after, she said.

A motorist, right, has harsh words with demonstrators blocking the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards as nearly 200 UCLA students and supporters marched from a campus demonstration to the intersection, where they blocked traffic for hours Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA student Laura Serveno, 18, lies down in the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards. Serveno was among those arrested later Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Nearly 200 UCLA students and supporters marched from a campus demonstration to the busy intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A motorist pleads with demonstrators to let her pass Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA graduate student Cheryl Deutch is arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers after she and other UCLA students sat in the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles police remove a sign around the neck of UCLA student Mathew Sandoval as he sits in the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards, where he and 10 other students shut down traffic for hours Wednesday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Protest in Westwood

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