This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Three Occupy Wall Street activists who launched a hunger strike in New York over the weekend had made their way from Utah to join the epicenter of the worldwide protest movement.
New York news outlets, including DNAinfo.com, The Village Voice and New York Daily News, reported that Brian Udall, 18, dropped out of Brigham Young University last month to head to New York, inspired by the police raid of the Zucotti Park encampment.
Provo resident Shae Willes, 22, emerged from the Occupy Provo effort to join Udall in his journey, and Diego Ibanez, a former Utah Valley University student, left his Utah County home during the early days of Occupy Wall Street more than two months ago to participate in the New York protests.
The trio began their hunger strike Saturday near a vacant lot owned by Trinity Wall Street, the wealthy real estate arm of an Episcopal parish. Their aim is to obtain permission for a new Occupy camp on a church-owned parcel at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue.
On Saturday, Ibanez told ABC News: "This is a chance for Trinity to definitely decide whether they're a church or real estate company."
By late Monday, all three had been arrested twice for trespassing outside a Trinity-owned lot near Duarte Square in SoHo. The protesters wrote a letter to Trinity officials seeking a meeting to discuss use of church-owned land for a camp, to allow the peaceful hunger strike to continue and to drop all trespassing charges against them.
Reached by phone Tuesday, Ibanez acknowledged feeling hungry and cold but determined. Born in Bolivia and raised as a Mormon in the Salt Lake City-Provo area, Ibanez said he saw the power that people could bring to bear on government while attending high school in Bolivia.
While in Utah, Ibanez said he worked with the Salt Lake Dream Team in its fight for immigration rights.
"I love the [Occupy] movement and the people," Ibanez said, noting that many rally for different issues but all are connected at the root of the problem, which is corporate greed and exploitation.
"The hunger strike will continue until Trinity Church opens up their land for Occupy Wall Street to have a new home," Ibanez said. "We're asking for political sanctuary and hope that they open up one of the many spaces they're not even using."
Late Tuesday, Willes said that to avoid further trespassing charges, the trio planned to move the daytime demonstration to Trinity Church on Wall Street and spend their nights at the Judson Church, which is a short subway ride away.
Willes acknowledged that although his family in Provo is supportive, "they kind of seem to think I'm going a little crazy with it."
"I think they worry a little bit, but all in all they stand behind what I want to do."
twitter: @catmck