Here in the "Occupy Portland" camp, crime and related issues were ramping up significantly. Drug overdoses in the camp went from none, to one per week, to multiple per week. Reports of sexual assaults in the tents and makeshift structures were coming out almost daily. Vandalism to the parks and surrounding businesses went out of control (I haven't gone down there myself, but friends of mine that work for the city tell me the parks will require major repairs and some businesses were closed). There was a heavy police presence, but they couldn't be everywhere and where they weren't stuff happened. The last straw was the elements in the camp seeking confrontation stock piling shields and weapons including molatov cocktails, rocks, sticks and homemade frag grenades made with glass and fireworks. I heard people starting to talk about forming an angry mob with their own sticks and rocks to go down and confront the camps if the police didn't do anything. The police chief expressed much frustration with it being allowed to continue. The mayor was/is sympathetic to the protesters but simply had to go with the national effort to crack down because a mutiny in his own police department and community was brewing.
