MINNEAPOLIS — Sheriff Rich Stanek has met early each morning with anti-Wall Street demonstrators occupying a government plaza in Minneapolis as part of a policy of engagement that has helped head off major disruptions as the protest enters its second week.

But the calm that has prevailed so far might be tested Saturday, when protesters said they aimed to begin setting up tents in defiance of a ban on structures in the plaza between the Hennepin County Government Center and Minneapolis City Hall.

“We’ve given them quite a bit of leeway and latitude to be able to do this. We understand what it is that they want to do,” Stanek said Friday. But, he said, officials are standing firm on the tent ban.

Instead, the county is allowing a temporary, 20-by-30-foot structure with a roof and no sides for people to take shelter in bad weather.

“This is a public place, but it is not a campground,” County Administrator Richard Johnson said. “We have permitted people to stay overnight, but this isn’t a place where you pitch tents.”