Shell script `rm -r`: Redirect write-protected prompt and answer "n"

I have a few lines in a shell script whose function is to iterate through directories, match some names, and delete them. Some areas of the file system are write protected and I would like to leave those alone but redirect the error prompt into a log when they are encountered.

Using rm -r /path/to/directory at that point in the script causes the script to output

rm: descend into write-protected directory /path/to/directory/subdirectory?

So it hangs and [eventually] times out when left to its own devices.

I attempted to correct this behavior by piping "n" to that prompt with

yes n | rm -r /path/to/directory

This produces two undesired results:

1. Outputting yes: standard output: Broken pipe; yes: write error for every directory that is removed, and


2. Not returning the rm: descend into write-protected... message to stdout.

What is the right way to do this?

_{I realize some other system information might be relevant, but it's probably inferrable from the question.}