In a tense escalation of the Occupy Portland protest, police in riot gear Sunday surrounded demonstrators... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers arrest a protester in the Portland encampment Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, in, Portland, Ore. Officials also moved over the weekend to dismantle a protest camp in Salt Lake City, Utah, while in Denver, police on Saturday removed mattresses, cooking grills and tents illegally placed on a public sidewalk. Portland Mayor Sam Adams in comments to CNN on Sunday linked that city's camps to increases in crime and drug overdoses, and said an arsonist had used a camp as camouflage for his efforts. FACE-TO-FACE 
 
 During the afternoon confrontation police, face-to-face with the protesters, repeatedly told them that if they didn't move out of the road, or appeared to resist arrest, chemical agents and impact weapons -- apparently beanbag guns -- might be used. On their side the protesters chanted: "I don't see no riot here, take off your riot gear," "The whole world is watching," and "We are peaceful people." The city offered alternative emergency accommodation at two local area homeless shelters, and laid on a shuttle service to one that was not within walking distance of the encampments. Officials said that one officer suffered minor injuries when he was hit by some kind of projectile in the leg. Also Sunday, for the third time in three days, Oakland city officials warned protesters that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest. In other cities over the weekend: 
 
 _ In Salt Lake City, police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man as found dead inside his tent at the encampment. _ In Denver, authorities forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four people for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
– Hundreds of defiant protesters took to the streets yesterday after cops stormed Occupy Portland encampments and busted 50 people. Mayor Sam Adams ordered the camps shut because of what he called unhealthy conditions and increased crime triggered by drug users and thieves drawn to the sites, reports AP. Authorities erected chain-link fences with barbed wire around adjacent downtown parks to block demonstrators from moving back in. "This is not a game," said Adams. Protesters are considering what action to take next. Some have proposed occupying foreclosed homes, others to move onto the state university campus or to the shores of the Willamette River. The Portland police action was the largest weekend crackdown on protests across the nation. Authorities also dismantled a camp in Salt Lake City, and Denver police removed mattresses, cooking grills and tents on a sidewalk, busting 17 protesters. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter yesterday boosted police patrols at his city's protest site, saying conditions were "dramatically deteriorating," Reuters reports. The movement "has changed and the people have changed," he said. "We are now at a critical point where we must reevaluate our entire relationship with this very changed group."