PORTLAND – The odds are good that city officials will still find some tents and remnants of other structures at the Occupy Maine encampment at Lincoln Park after the city’s deadline to have it emptied passes at 8 a.m. today.

Some of the tent stands are frozen to the ground and impossible to move, said Occupy members working to dismantle the camp Sunday. Other members said they intend to remain in their tents, despite the city’s order to move.

“I am not walking away. I will be sitting in my tent at 8 on Monday,” said Harry Brown of Portland.

Most of those in the park Sunday said they were trying hard to abide by the city’s order to remove all structures and belongings. The city served an eviction notice Thursday warning protesters that anyone found camping in the park between 10 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. after today could be arrested.

The notice was delivered the day after Superior Court Judge Thomas Warren upheld the city’s denial of Occupy Maine’s request to continue to protest round-the-clock at the park. The protesters set up camp in the park in October, in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement’s stand against social and economic inequality, and other issues.

The protest camp was tolerated by city officials at first but the city moved to shut it down as concerns increased about public health and safety.

By Sunday morning, the city had hauled away three large dumpsters of debris from the site and protesters were well on their way to filling a fourth. Volunteers piled up lumber and other items, which some said they would use to build an alternative protest camp on private land at a yet to-be-announced location.

“The Occupy people will rebuild,” said Sam Swenson, of Portland, who was helping to take the encampment apart.

Others said they were starting a commune at a private residence in Cape Elizabeth but intended to spend one more night before moving along.

“This is the last day of 24-hour assembly and free speech and I want to sleep here and say goodbye to a place I fell in love with,” said Evan McVeigh, who has been camping at the park since its inception.

Donations of food for the protesters continued to pour in, despite the order to move. Peggy Akers of Portland, among other volunteers packing up the camp, said she was saddened by the removal of the camp but optimistic about the movement’s future.

“I feel these people have learned to connect the dots in what is happening in our society,” she said.

Swenson said that whatever happens in the weeks ahead, protesters will be back at noon Feb. 12 to rededicate the park.

“We aren’t giving up,” he said.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com