Queena Kim

This protester writing his hopes for the movement on a cloth that'll be put on the teepee behind him.

Oakland will not let Occupy protesters set up tents in Frank Ogawa Plaza again, but on Tuesday, the city let the demonstrators put up a teepee.

It's the third time the city has allowed Occupy Oakland to erect structures in the plaza. Police dismantled the group's two previous encampments in front of city hall, at a cost of more than $2 million.

Protesters say they won’t sleep in the teepee, but will take turns holding a 24-hour a day vigil at the structure. City law prohibits camping in public parks and spaces.

Attorney Kirk Boyd, a member of Occupy Oakland's legal working group, called the teepee "a victory for first amendment rights.”

Occupy Oakland protesters say they hope the strucrture will become the new hub of activism for the Occupy movement.

“We need to stay in people’s minds, in the minds of the 99 percent,” said Boyd. “The most difficult thing is to keep this momentum and transition into something that changes the social order.”

When protesters first tried to put up the teepee Tuesday, Oakland Police officers told them they had to get a permit from the city.

Boyd and his team quickly applied for and received a permit, which allowed the protesters to put up the teepee between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

“There is no lodging in the plaza, it’s a public space and everybody has aright to use it,” said Arturo Sanchez, assistant to the city administrator.

But as protesters gleefully began putting up the teepee, Native American activist Chris Longoria arrived at the plaza and expressed concern that demonstrators were defiling a sacred Native American symbol.

“A teepee is sacred in our culture, it’s part of our religion,” Longoria said. “But because they can’t put up a tent, they decide to put up a teepee? A teepee is not a tent.”

Longoria complained that she saw people were smoking and cursing next to the teepee. Occupy Oakland protester and Native American activist Zachary Running Wolf assured Longoria that protesters were treating the teepee as a religious symbol. He added that the teepee wasn’t authentic, but symbolic. Running Wolf’s words appeared to appease Longoria, who said she supported his efforts.

“I’m not out here to shout, I’m here to educate” people here about Native American culture, Longoria said. But she added, “It weighs heavy on my heart to see the way it’s being used.”