Ohio University police arrested about 70 protesters on charges of criminal trespass Wednesday night, after they refused to leave a sit-in demonstration inside Baker University Center, police said.

The protest, over President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, started in front of the Athens County Courthouse in downtown Athens, Athens police said. There were about 300 participants at that time, according to a local newspaper.

More than 150 students, faculty and other protesters then moved to the fourth floor of Baker for a sit-in over what they contend has been OU's weak response to Trump's action.

A group calling itself the Ohio University Student Union put a statement on Facebook indicating it would stay at Baker until "Ohio University meets our demands to become a sanctuary campus."

The OU administration gathered the protesters in a meeting room to process them on the trespassing charge, which is a misdemeanor, and not block entrance to Baker Center. Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers delivered his first warning at 7:22 p.m. that anyone who refused to leave would be arrested within an hour. The first arrests were made just before 8 p.m.

jwoods@dispatch.com

@Woodsnight