Yale students Jonathan Scolnik ’03 and Abhimanyu Sud ’03 were among 17 anti-war protesters arrested Thursday evening after a march through downtown Hartford, police said. They are being held overnight and will be arraigned Friday.

Scolnik was arrested and charged with assault on a police officer and is being held on $15,000 bond, a Hartford Police Department spokesman said Friday morning. Sud was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge and is being held on $10,000 bond.

About 300 people attended the Coalition for Peace and Justice rally in opposition to U.S. military action in Afghanistan.

Chanting “This is not a police state,” the mostly college-age protesters moved from Bushnell Park down the middle of Main and State streets toward the Founders Bridge before being stopped by police in front of Constitution Plaza, where growing tensions between the marchers and police erupted.

The protesters began disrupting traffic and pounding on vehicles, Hartford Police Lt. James Blanchett said. The march organizers, who represented several Connecticut university and state peace organizations, did not have a permit to use the city streets, police said.

Blanchett said several of the protesters attempted to strike police officers, and police responded with pepper stay.

Tavia Nyong’o GRD ’03 and Sarah Wolf ’02 participated in the march and said they did not see protesters attack police.

“People began to assert their right to peacefully protest,” Nyong’o said.

–Yale Daily News, with additional reporting by The Associated Press