On December 9, The Oregonian reported that guards, at least one of which was armed, had been posted at each intersection blocked by protesters, and that spike strips made of boards and nails were outside one of the barricades. Willamette Week later described the guard as being part of "several physical barricades of protection and layers of guards... to make people of color feel safe standing around a fire pit" at the center of the space. That same day, the Portland Police Bureau spoke to the illegality of the occupation and the possibility of violence on the site. Describing this, the Portland Mercury stated that "the police continued spinning fear-mongering disinformation about the occupation". On December 10, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that protestors have been forbidding people from taking pictures or video from within the occupied zone. Most such confrontations have been verbal, though that policy has at times been enforced through violence.
