Twenty-two people were arrested early Monday in Oakland after dozens of protesters set up tents outside City Hall to bring attention to the treatment of homeless people, officials said.

The people arrested were booked at Santa Rita Jail on charges of resisting arrest and cited for violating the city’s municipal code for staying at the park past 10 p.m. Police cleared the camp overnight.

Nearly 80 people gathered outside City Hall at about noon Sunday set up 25 tents and signs that read “F— the Tuff Sheds” and “Public Land for Sanctuary.”

One sign read, “Where do we go Oakland?” — a nod to a similar protest occurring in Berkeley on Caltrans lots.

The protest was to put pressure on the city to negotiate with advocates about providing better resources for homeless people, decriminalizing unsheltered people and providing affordable and temporary housing, said Candice Elder, executive director of East Oakland Collective.

Elder said the arrests and clearing of the camp sent a message that the city “does not care about the demands.”

“The city definitely showed that they came with a vengeance,” she said with police actions showing “that they were ordered by the city to remove us by any and all costs.”

But Mayor Libby Schaaf said, “Housing and homelessness are the most urgent crises facing our community, region, and state.” She added, “Our shared priority is to create more safe shelter spaces for our unsheltered residents and build more affordable housing immediately. Oakland supports every resident’s right to free speech and to protest peacefully in our city.”

Police and workers from the city’s public works department started dismantling tents after midnight.

Elder said she and other people locked themselves in the tents, but nearly 60 officers swarmed the protest. Some officers cut the locks and “dragged them out.”

“We weren’t leaving,” she said. “The whole point was to stay there and be able to talk and negotiate with the city our demands. It was a peaceful protest. The fight continues. This does not stop us at all.”

Oakland’s homeless population has increased by 47% in the past two years. There are an estimated 742 unsheltered homeless people in Oakland for every 100,000 residents — the highest among the state’s largest cities.

The city has focused its efforts on community cabins, some of them built by Tuff Shed, and safe RV parking locations. But advocates have criticized these efforts and say the city is focusing too much on temporary solutions.

Sunday’s protest included demands to end the clearing of encampments and called on city officials to identify public land to be used for homeless services.

“Two years ago, City Council passed a resolution for the mayor and administration to identify at least two parcels of public land in each district to be used for community-led approaches to this homeless state of emergency. That was ignored,” said Tracy Lee, a spokeswoman for The Village, an advocacy group that creates encampments on public and private land in Oakland.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani