Seven of the eight picked up by police were Muslims or blacks, leading to the allegations of racial profiling.

"What happened is racism," said Dan Mayfield, a lawyer who is representing the students pro bono through the National Lawyers Guild--a network of progressive lawyers that works on social justice issues. "There were 200 people demonstrating and six non-whites were charged with crimes," he said.

At the same time, the sheriff's office, which polices Cupertino, denies it. "We absolutely refute the allegations," said Serg Palanov, a department spokesman.

The charges center on a Veteran's Day talk at De Anza's Flint Center by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. His speech brought out more than 150 anti-war demonstrators, with most holding signs and chanting. Some protestors, though, threw eggs at police officers and at least one individual smashed the windshield of a police car. In the aftermath, police arrested eight individuals on charges that included assault with a deadly weapon and disturbing the peace.

Mayfield said two of those students were not involved in the protests but were picked up after leaving a class. "Both were wearing long white prayer shirts, and two other people arrested were wearing similar shirts," Mayfield said, adding a white man in a ski mask was able to walk away earlier in the evening. Mayfield said the young man destroyed a police car windshield while standing on the vehicle.

"It's absolutely untrue," Palanov said of the students who alleged police detained them after they left class. "The students were actively a part of the activity, organizing and passing out eggs and rocks." He added that some individuals, who are believed to be part of an anarchist group, were not arrested at the start of the evening because the 35 officers on duty in riot gear initially concentrated on crowd control. "I saw people throwing barricades," he said, "and with 2,000 patrons at the Flint Center, our main job was to provide safety."

Palanov also said each officer in the sheriff's department receives cultural sensitivity training.

Both sides are to make their case at a hearing before Santa Clara County's Human Relations Commission on Jan. 24.

Mayfield would like the charges dropped and a mediation session implemented.

"Considering the racial profiling, [the sheriff's office] should consider mediation and protestors have to learn to identify their target--sheriff's officers are not the enemy," Mayfield said. "All sides have something to learn."