Six people emerged from St. Emeric Church on the city's west side just before 4pm Thursday afternoon carrying American and Hungarian flags. They had locked themselves in the historic Hungarian church following a late night vigil.
John Juhasz said protestors emerged because they were worried police would knock down and damage the locked church doors.
In a statement from the Cleveland Diocese, a spokesman wrote that the protestors were told that they would be considered to be trespassing if they did not leave.
Protestors negotiated with Cleveland Police 2nd District Commander Keith Sulzer. Sulzer promised he would do everything in his power to get Bishop Richard Lennon to sit down and talk with the protesters.
Commander Keith Sulzer: As a Catholic I understand their plight, but they had to do this in the right way and this was not the right way to do it.
Others in the St. Emeric parish agreed with that statement and worried that the protest would jeopardize an ongoing appeal to the Vatican to keep their church open.
St. Emeric is the last of 50 Catholic churches closed by the Cleveland Diocese because of declining numbers of parishioners within the city, as well as a shortage of priests and financial setbacks.