SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Police say 26 people who were arrested for blocking a TRAX train in downtown Salt Lake City have been cited or released from jail.
SLC PD Detective Mike Hamideh told ABC 4 News that all 26 protestors were warned to leave the TRAX tracks before they were arrested.
The protestors were sitting on the tracks, holding hands and demonstrating against the sentencing of Tim DeChristopher, who had been convicted of defrauding the federal government by placing bogus bids for Utah oil and gas drilling parcels in 2008.
DeChristopher claimed he placed the bids to curtail the effects of global warming.
The demonstrators were protesting DeChristopher's 2-year $10,000 fine, handed down by U.S. Judge Dee Benson on Tuesday.
After the sentencing, DeChristopher was taken away in handcuffs to report to a federal prison.
DeChristopher's supporters sang songs and tethered themselves to hand rails on the courthouse steps after the announcement of the sentence.
Hamideh said that officers offered to issue misdemeanor citations to all the protestors, but that they wanted to be booked into jail.
Once they arrived at the jail, Hamideh said officers made the same offer. Seven protestors agreed to take the citations rather than be booked into jail. Nineteen protestors demanded to be booked.
Prosecutors say all of the protestors were released from jail on Wednesday, and now await court appearances on August 9. The protestors face several misdemeanors and other infractions.
The protestors caused delays all over the Utah Transit Authority system before they were arrested.
