Almost two dozen protesters opposing proposed budget cuts to In-Home Supportive Services and other state programs were arrested Wednesday after they and others blocked a street next to the state Capitol.

About 100 protesters, some of whom were blind or in wheelchairs, stopped in the intersection of L and 11th streets at about 2:30 p.m. after they had marched from the north steps of the Capitol to K Street Mall and back.

The protest ended about an hour later with the arrest of 22 people, eight of them in wheelchairs.

One protester was taken to the Sacramento County jail and the others were processed at the site and released, said Sacramento Police Department spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.

All face misdemeanor charges, Leong said.

Some protesters showed no fear of being arrested.

"What the police might do to me when they come to arrest me is far less significant than what the cuts will do to me if they go through," said 62-year-old Jean Stewart, who was one of those cited.

Stewart, co-founder of Communities United in Defense of Olmstead, said she was afraid she would end up in a nursing home or homeless if the In-Home Supportive Services program was cut.

"I just hope that the governor and the Legislature hear our message," she said. "We have tried everything else."

Her group was one of more than a dozen participating in the protest. Most are part of the Health and Human Services Network of California, a coalition of organizations advocating for California families, seniors and people with disabilities.

"One way or another, we're going to be in the streets today or we'll be living in them in a few months," said 46-year-old Mark Romoser, a community advocate for the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center.

The rally and march featured tents, protesters on hospital gurneys and a 10-foot effigy of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a bloody ax. The groups oppose the governor's proposals to cut in-home services, Medi-Cal, the state welfare program CalWORKs, adult day health care and mental health rehabilitation.

Leong said that the Police Department supports freedom of speech, but protesting in the middle of a street is illegal.

"We have protests all the time, but people do it civilly without disturbing city residents and in this case you have to abide by the law," said Leong.

More than 40 Sacramento police officers and California Highway Patrol officers, some on horseback, prevented traffic from entering the intersection.

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