Large protests in Oakland on Tuesday to mark May Day were mostly peaceful but 39 people were arrested, city of Oakland officials said Wednesday.

As many as 5,000 demonstrators engaged in a variety of protests, strikes, marches and other actions, city officials said in a statement.

They said protesters had permits for some of the actions but in many cases they didn't have permits.

City officials said, "As has happened many times before, there was a small group of people who came to Oakland intent on provoking violent confrontations with the police and vandalizing the city."

But they said the Oakland Police Department was able to isolate those individuals, arrest them quickly and minimize the damage they were able to cause.

City officials said 27 people were arrested for willfully delaying or obstructing the law and seven people were arrested for failing to disperse an area declared an unlawful assembly.

They said one person was arrested for robbery, battery and resisting or delaying arrest, one was arrested for battery and resisting or delaying arrest, one was arrested for battery and resisting or delaying arrest and one was arrested for violating a restraining order.

In addition, one person was arrested for vandalism and another person was arrested for vandalism plus possession of an incendiary device.

The protests were organized by Occupy Oakland as well as immigrant and labor groups.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said in the statement that May Day in Oakland "has traditionally been dedicated to supporting immigrants' rights with broad community support for large marches to City Hall."

But she said, "Once again, a small group intent on confronting the police and doing damage to public buildings and businesses in our city disrupted yesterday's largely peaceful events."

Quan said, "I want to thank the Oakland police and the other law enforcement agencies for their evolving strategies which balance the rights of peaceful demonstrators with enforcement against violence."

She said she also wants to thank workers from the city's Fire Department and Public Works Department for putting out small fires Tuesday night.

City officials said the Oakland Police Department was assisted by about 150 officers who were made available through mutual aid from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol and the police departments from Hayward, Fremont, Union City/Newark, Emeryville and Pleasanton.

Public work crews worked around the clock to do street sweeping and other clean-up actions to restore the city, according to city officials.

Damage to private property, including a broken window at a Wells Fargo bank branch, was repaired by private property owners, city officials said.