BOSTON—A Harvard junior was arrested Monday and arraigned on charges of criminal trespassing the following day after he led more than 20 Harvard students in an act of civil disobedience at the Massachusetts State House.

Now out on bail, Aaron K. Tanaka ’04 said the protest—which involved several hundred angry activists—expressed their reservations about major service cuts in next year’s state budget.

“This is a really urgent and ugly budget,” Tanaka said. “People are going to be dying on the streets. Our actions need to match the urgency of the situation.”

Monday’s events began with an afternoon rally and press conference in the grand staircase of the State House, organized and led by fiery Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner ’62. After a dozen speakers railed at length against the cuts in social services, the protesters marched up the staircase to the doors of the House chamber where legislators sat in session.

Nearly half an hour of political chanting outside the chamber—kept from invading the legislative room by a velvet rope—was followed by a sudden rush by several protesters past the line. Police quickly restored the border, but not soon enough to stop approximately 25 protesters from taking up positions seated on the floor beyond it.

Of those who staged the sit-in, 18 stayed until they were arrested Monday evening, Tanaka said. He said he was the only Harvard student to be charged.

Tanaka said he and most of the others arrested planned to plead not guilty to their charges.

“We feel that we should not be punished for exercising our constitutional right to free expression,” he said.

Those involved in the protest stressed the critical damage they said the budget would do to social services provided by the state to its least fortunate citizens.

“When 13 out of 18 rape crisis centers, plus the only 24-hour Spanish-speaking hotline, are going to close because of the cuts, that’s really serious, and that’s just one example of the impact they’ll have,” wrote Amee Chew ’04, who was present at the rally, in an e-mail.

Chew said that with the new budget the state was in “a state of emergency.”

Daniel DiMaggio ’04, who also attended the protest, wrote in an e-mail that he came because he thought the legislature which passed the budget was corrupt.

“I think the budget is a sick and craven attempt to balance the tax cuts for the rich and the declining profits of companies on the backs of the poor and the working class,” he said. “I wanted to vent my rage and let them know that there is a solution.”

Tanaka said that Monday was an apt time to make such a statement since the House was preparing to close its current term.

“The legislature is going to hit the beaches or go home, and meanwhile all the people who are going to be affected by the budget are going to be hurt all summer,” he said.