Providence (AP) - Providence officials said Monday they would not immediately begin legal proceedings against anti-Wall Street protesters who defied a weekend deadline to dismantle their tents and leave a public park where they have been camping.

Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare told The Associated Press city lawyers are drawing up a complaint and consulting with a local attorney who has come forward on behalf of the protesters.

He added protesters will get plenty of notice about any legal action and there'll be "no surprises."

Miriam Weizenbaum, an attorney in Providence, said she notified the city Monday that she would be representing Occupy Providence. She said the activists are engaging in constitutionally protected free speech and that the city ordinance under which Burnside Park closes at 9 p.m. is "precluding a speech act in a public forum."

Protesters with Occupy Providence ignored the Sunday afternoon deadline set by Pare to leave the park, where they have been camping without a permit since Oct. 15. The activists have vowed to stay indefinitely, calling their movement and encampment acts of free speech and assembly.

Mayor Angel Taveras said in a statement Saturday that Providence won't follow the actions of other cities, including Atlanta and Oakland, Calif., where there have been widespread arrests and even some violent clashes with police seeking to clear encampments.

Instead, Taveras said, city officials will petition the courts in the near future for a ruling "on the viability and constitutionality of this encampment."

"This will allow the protesters to have their day in court and for a full, public legal vetting of the issues," he said.

The Rhode Island ACLU says that a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding camping bans in certain public parks "significantly limits" the right of Occupy Providence to stay at Burnside Park indefinitely.

The Occupy activists are planning a series of actions this week, including a Tuesday rally at Burnside Park in support of their continued encampment. On Wednesday, they plan to protest at two events in Providence at which Education Secretary Arne Duncan is scheduled to speak.

Duncan will address a town hall event at the Providence Career and Technical Academy Wednesday afternoon before delivering a keynote address to business and community leaders at the annual dinner of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

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Associated Press writer Laura Crimaldi contributed to this report.