Occupy Houston thought it dodged the bullet that hit occupy groups in New York and Oakland, both of which were temporarily evicted from their sites Monday night and face new restrictions on overnight camping.

But then Tuesday afternoon’s rain brought trouble in Occupy Houston's ongoing dispute with city authorities over tarps and tents in their Tranquility Park base.

“Walking back from the public city council meeting at City Hall, I immediately noticed a dozen police officers and fire fighters walking through our camp in a very authoritative manner,” Occupy Houston "facilitator" Dustin Phipps told CultureMap.

After inspecting a number of tables, city officials told protestors to remove all tarps, claiming that any material over a table can be interpreted as a "tent."

Phipps said occupiers formed a small blockade to stop authorities from removing tarps, particularly those protecting the group's electronic equipment. As the rain slowed to a drizzle, a brief standoff ensued before police arrested a protestor. Several occupiers told CultureMap that the man arrested was a Rice University student.

Last week, the tent and tarp issue brought about one of Occupy Houston's biggest police confrontations in the group's nearly six-week history, when Houston Police Department officers arrested seven protestors who refused to disassemble a tarp shelter after a visit from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Occupy Houston organizer Scott Gregory noted a sharp increase in the number of protestors after the "Tarpgate" incident. While participation diminished in the past two days, he said he expected a crowded general assembly meeting in light of Tuesday's police activity.

A highly-orchestrated protest during U.S. House majority leader Eric Cantor's speech at Rice University brought some media attention to Occupy Houston, even though the Cantor protest was largely directed by Rice student activists somewhat outside the occupy structure at Tranquility Park.

"The occupy movement isn't necessarily an organized group per se," said Houston occupier Tyler Gleason. "It's a movement open to everyone and it's actions are taken by supporters. We had reserved seats for the Eric Cantor speech, but only people with Rice IDs could attend the event in the end."

Gleason noted that the Cantor protest "illustrates the drawbacks of a leaderless movement," stressing that better organization will help the movement shape its long-term strategies and goals.

"It's going to take time to get there, but we're committed," he said.

This week Occupy Houston plans to join Good Jobs Great Houston for a large protest in front of the Mickey Leland Federal Building at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. On Saturday at 2 p.m., the group has reserved a 200-seat room at the Houston Public Library for a public meeting to recap its accomplishments and future plans.

As winter looms on the horizon for occupy groups in colder climates, the worldwide movement is beginning to assess its plans for the coming months.

Adbusters, the Canadian anti-consumerist magazine that initiated the occupy movement in September, posted a briefing on its website debating two possible avenues: Hunker down for the winter or "declare victory" and regroup until spring.