HOUSTON -- Hundreds of Houston area college students went to Louisiana Thursday to participate in a rally to defend six black students they say were excessively charged based on their race, KPRC Local 2 reported.

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Slideshow: Jena Six Rally

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The students from Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M universities arrived in Jena, La., after traveling by bus overnight.

"We're all out here for the same reason," student Stephanie Brown said. "We're trying to go down to Jena and make sure that we come out in numbers so people will take us seriously, and understand that the problems that effect people in other areas effect us here as well."

The crowd of thousands of people from across the country broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.

"It's really mind-blowing to see," Cherrelle Stokes said. "I mean walking up and down a hill, when you see the slope, when you see the amounts of people that are flowing in one direction. It's just awesome."

Sharpton said this could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.

The six teens were charged shortly after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white teens who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.

"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," Sharpton said Thursday. "You can't have two standards of justice. We didn't bring race in it, those that hung the nooses brought the race into it."

Some students said they were attending the rally to fight for their rights.

"Whether you're on the Hispanic side, African side, white Caucasian or whatever, it's just basically about fighting for your rights," student Latasha Cooper said, "That's nothing no one should take from you."

LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, breaking a long public silence, denied Wednesday that racism was involved.

He said he didn't prosecute the students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged.

"I cannot overemphasize what a villainous act that was. The people that did it should be ashamed of what they unleashed on this town," Walters said.

In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Mychal Bell, had a prior criminal record.

The white teen who was beaten, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.

Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.

Thursday's protest had been planned to coincide with Bell's sentencing, but organizers decided to press ahead even after the conviction was thrown out. Bell remains in jail while prosecutors prepare an appeal. He has been unable to meet the $90,000 bond.

Protesters took up a collection to raise money to help Bell's case.

Jena residents said they were concerned about the demonstration and think their town is being portrayed unfairly.

"I think most people are just disturbed that they whole country and the whole world is getting a distorted view of what this little town is all about," resident Betty Nelson said.

Jena police said there had been no major incidents and no arrests have been made.

Many businesses closed because of fears of what could happen during the protest.

Texas Southern University students said the issue was something that was uniting them through tough times the school has recently experienced.

"For us to get together, to get on buses and work with each other without any controversy is beautiful," student Kelly Smith said. "It's about time."