Queena Kim

More than 50 tents were set up at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza

More than 50 tents covered the lawn at Oakland's Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on Tuesday afternoon. Donations of rice and loaves of bread piled up. Several porta potties were erected, along with a kitchen and a growing library of used books and 'zines.

Among the titles: “Nights of Rage: On the Recent Revolts in France” and Jared Diamond’s “Collapse.”

This was Day 1 of Occupy Oakland, a spinoff of the protest movement that is spreading across the country. The encampment here already appears to have more permanence than others that have sprouted in the Bay Area, including Occupy San Francisco, which has struggled to gain support since it began Sept. 17.

Organizers said about 100 people camped overnight after the protest began Monday afternoon -- a furlough day for city workers. Among them was City Councilwoman Desley Brooks. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, herself a former activist, appeared on Tuesday at the General Assembly, a deliberative gathering used in other cities, but was asked to wait in line to speak.

This was consistent with the movement's anti-hierarchical movement, said one of the protesters, Brian Scharf, 29, an unemployed architect. 

Quan didn’t offer words of support but expressed concern for the plaza's large oak tree, protesters said. 

“She mostly came to ask people not to urinate on the oak tree,” said Sharf.

The Occupy movement is still largely undefined, but protesters have focused their anger primarily on corporate greed and an economic system in which a tiny percentage of the population controls a disproportionate and ever-increasing share of the wealth. 

On Tuesday, Charlotte Allen, 62, and her friend Phebe Fletcher, 56, wandered into the encampment's makeshift library and perused a few 'zines.

Allen, a retired Internet architect from Fremont, was there to visit her friend Fletcher, who lived in Oakland.

“I came out because I wanted to feel it,” said Fletcher.  “I’m tired of the powerlessness of the corporation determining things. When I come to a place like this and see people are taking the power back, I feel excited.”

Other protesters focused on issues that were uniquely related to Oakland, including the city's epidemic of gang-related violence.

“Right now, we’re talking about poverty, education, gang injunctions,” said Claire Staples, 24. “Those issues are not necessarily a focus in other parts of the country.”

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