Journalist Don Lemon released from custody following arrest in connection to Minnesota church protest

By Brian Stelter, Kara Scannell, Hannah Rabinowitz and Nick Watt, CNN

Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/File via CNN Newsource

Independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort have been criminally charged in connection with a protest at a church in St Paul, Minnesota.

First Amendment advocates and civil-rights organisations condemned the arrests, arguing that President Donald Trump was trying to chill press freedom in the US.

Lemon and Fort were live-streaming, as dozens of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters rushed into Cities Church on 18 January, interrupting a church service and leading to tense confrontations.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said four people were arrested early Friday "in connection with the co-ordinated attack" at the church. The other two individuals Bondi named were Trahern Jeen Crew and Jamael Lydell Lundy.

Lemon - a former CNN anchor, who now hosts his own show on YouTube and other platforms - was released from custody, after appearing in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon.

Lemon appeared in court wearing a tan double-breasted suit and matching T-shirt. His husband was present in the gallery.

"This is a very serious felony," a federal prosecutor said in court, adding Lemon "knowingly joined a mob to storm into a church".

The prosecutor said Lemon told his audience the protest's purpose was to make the experi