Some participants in a downtown Portland rally Saturday related to 41-day takeover of an eastern Oregon wildlife refuge are expected to openly carry weapons, police said.

The demonstrators are protesting the way authorities handled the armed takeover at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.

An Oregonian/OregonLive reporter at the scene did not see any protesters open carrying as protesters gathered.

The rallies are billed as memorials to Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, the occupation spokesman who was shot and killed by Oregon State Police while resisting arrest. The FBI said he was reaching for a loaded handgun in his pocket.

Police arrested many of the occupation's leaders in the same incident. It wasn't until days later that four holdouts, still at the refuge, were taken into custody.

Protesters planned to rally from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, then at the Oregon Capitol in Salem at 3 p.m. There's also one scheduled to run from noon to 3 p.m. in Bend.

Portland prohibits possession of loaded firearms in public places, but holders of concealed handgun licenses are exempt. Demonstrators occasionally openly carry weapons in the city to show support for Second Amendment rights.

Dispatchers also warned officers that demonstrators planned to film confrontations with police.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus

Fedor Zarkhin contributed to this report.