CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Five members of Occupy Cleveland were arrested Monday after they protested property foreclosures by interrupting a sheriff's sale.

The sale, to auction off foreclosed homes, began about 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Justice Center. The protesters quickly stood up, and one began to shout:

"We are calling on the judicial system to institute an immediate moratorium on all foreclosures until a fair system of home loans is put into place," said Peter Schanz of Cleveland, an organizer of the group's foreclosure committee.

Before protesters could finish a prepared statement, sheriff's deputies carted them away and charged them with disorderly conduct, a minor misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $100 fine.

Some of the demonstrators left singing a song:

Mr. Auctioneer,

All the people here,

We're asking you to halt all the sales right now,

We're going to survive, but we don't know how.

The protest lasted only a few minutes. Still the Occupy Cleveland members believe they had an effect. The group began as part of a nationwide movement against corporate greed and has shifted its focus to fighting foreclosures.

"Until we have a justice system that holds banks accountable -- Wall Street banks trashed the economy -- we want people to know that there is a movement, and that it is OK to fight back," Schanz said.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid said they needed to take that fight elsewhere if they couldn't refrain from disorderly behavior.

"The demonstrators were conducting themselves in a loud and disruptive manner within the sheriff's sale meeting," Reid wrote in an email. "Sheriff's deputies asked several times for the demonstrators to leave the meeting, but they refused, at which time they were placed under arrest for disorderly conduct. The sheriff's office will not tolerate the disruption of a public meeting."

Brandon Baxter of Lakewood said he had no regrets for making sure people heard the message.

"I took the risk of getting arrested because I feel the powers that be, whoever they might be -- on all levels of government and those who hold corporate power -- are not listening because not enough people are actually taking a stance" against foreclosures, he said. "I was hoping that this would be a great way to get Cleveland more involved by showing the potential that a small group of dedicated people can have in making an impact. Even though we are not in any government position or in Congress, we do have the power."

Even though the protest ended abruptly, Kriston Jones of Cleveland said he hopes the group got its message across.

"I hope it turned off a couple of people so that they thought twice about bidding," he said.

But the steady pace of bidding suggested otherwise. Many properties, some selling for as little as several hundred dollars, received multiple bids. The auctioneer chanted: "Sold!" in such predictable intervals that it started to sound like the refrain of a bad luck song.

Jonnie Peskar of Garfield Heights said he was satisfied with the protesters' effort.

"I have had family members and friends foreclosed on," he said. "That was my basic motivation for getting involved."

Outside the window of the room in which the auction took place, about 35 Occupy Cleveland members rallied for nearly two hours. Some beat the bottoms of big plastic buckets rhythmically like drums. "The people united will never be defeated!" they chanted.

One-by-one, as the protesters were released after being charged, they joined the rally.

Each was met by cheers and hugs.