(04-09) 20:28 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- It was an Olympic-sized fake-out, and by the end of the day, instead of the violent clashes that some had feared, the Beijing Olympic torch run left only thousands of frustrated protesters on one end of San Francisco and mostly relieved runners and officials on the other.
The finger-pointing is bound to go on for days about whether changing the route at the last minute was right. But on Wednesday, Mayor Gavin Newsom and other officials said that once they got a good look mid-morning at the chanting, surging, flag-waving crowds along the torch's advertised route, they felt they had no choice.
"If we had started down that (original) route, I guarantee you would have seen helmet-clad officers with batons pushing back protesters," San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong said.
Complaints about the bait-and-switch rang long and loud from many among the estimated 10,000 people milling along the original route all morning. Many rallied for a range of causes, such as China's human rights record and even the idea that the Olympics should be free of politics, and they viewed the torch run as an opportunity to vent their positions before an international audience focused on the torch's only stop in North America.
All anticipated a noisy, politically charged experience, perhaps even as dramatic as the demonstrations in London and Paris. Instead, the city pulled a fast one, which was evident from the moment the first runner emerged from AT&T; Park and ducked into a cavernous warehouse on Pier 48 instead of heading up the Embarcadero as planned. Before the crowds could fully react, the torch runners soon emerged mysteriously two miles away on Van Ness Avenue and started a low-key trot northward into the Marina.
Hundreds of police officers flanked the runners on foot and on motorcycles and bicycles, but they were not needed much. The whole torch run, once the runners began their radically altered route at about 2 p.m., took less than two hours. Rather than furious clashes between protesters, there were mostly screams of support and delight at seeing the torch go by.
Mother, son see torch
Nancy Chan of San Francisco, with her son Christian, 4, ran over from her house two blocks away when she heard that the route was suddenly moved to Van Ness instead of the waterfront.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us to see the torch," she said. "There is a lot of politics around it, but that is the great thing about America - the free speech."
Likewise, Joan Woodaver, who works near Van Ness, saw on television that the route had altered and headed over. But unlike Chan, she toted a sign reading "Free Tibet and Free Burma."
"I really admire the Dalai Lama, and I feel disturbed that the government of China treats people so poorly," Woodaver said.
Only three people were arrested Wednesday: one at McCovey Cove and two in the Marina. However, police did at times shove the crowds back and detain some protesters on the sidelines before letting them go.
The morning had portended a much different, more contentious affair.
The torch was supposed to be carried along the Embarcadero after a 1 p.m. ceremony at AT&T; Park on the waterfront, but by early morning thousands of people had already gathered. Most at first were supporters of China and onlookers who came just to see the torch. Around 11 a.m., protesters started to arrive, and the tone changed. Hundreds of people began screaming and sometimes pushing each other.
Many of the pro-torch demonstrators carried red Chinese flags and said they were bused in by the Chinese Consulate and other pro-China groups, though others said they had come of their own accord. Meanwhile, opposing demonstrators carried Tibetan flags and preached independence for the country. Others were on hand to support Burma or rail against China's backing of the Sudanese government in its war in Darfur.
At one point early in the morning, Jeremy Darrah, 26, walked into Justin Herman Plaza and began asking pro-China supporters if they knew about Beijing's backing of the Sudanese government. He was immediately surrounded by 30 people who told him to go home. About 10 police officers then stepped in and told Darrah he could not protest in that area because the Chinese supporters had secured permits - an apparent misunderstanding of the city's official policy to allow all protesters at the site.
The clashes got more intense from then on as crowds of more than 1,000 surged up and down the Embarcadero chanting, "Free Tibet!" or - less often - "Leave the torch alone!"
A tense beginning
By the time the torch was lit at McCovey Cove around 1:20 p.m., the mood in the streets up and down the waterfront was tense, some protesters blocking vehicles they thought contained the torch and others yelling at and pushing each other.
After a few opening remarks by ceremonial officials, the first runner, surrounded by Chinese and American police, headed away from the crowd and into the Pier 48 building.
Unbeknownst to anyone watching, that torch never left the building. A mile away, the torch runners were gathered at a hotel on O'Farrell Street with one of several backup torches - and they drove with that torch in a convoy up Ellis Street to Van Ness Avenue and Pine Street.
The 70-plus torchbearers wound up starting their relay there. A new torch was unloaded from one of the cars and lit, and the runners, carrying the flame in pairs, began to make their way north.
The torch was handed off every half-block or so to a new pair of torchbearers.
As the route progressed, the crowds slowly grew. At one point, a knot of pro-Tibet demonstrators yelled, "Shame on China! How dare you represent China!" In return, a group of torch supporters yelled back: "They represent the U.S.!"
By the time the runners got to Broadway, the crowds were five people deep on the sidewalk, mostly screaming support and craning for good views beyond the police lines.
Some protesters caught up to the run along its surprise route, but most stayed at Justin Herman Plaza, where a closing ceremony was planned. That ceremony was canceled in lieu of a quieter, shorter one, with just officials and the runners, at San Francisco International Airport.
Torch off to Argentina
The torch finally headed out of the city around 3:30 p.m. and arrived at the airport at 4:15. The motorcade bearing the torch was immediately whisked to a parking area near the international terminal and placed off limits to the half-dozen protesters and a clutch of news crews. Airport officials said a chartered Air China plane took off at 9:05 p.m., carrying the torch to its next stop in Argentina.
Back at Justin Herman Plaza, as word filtered through the crowds that there would be no ending ceremony after all, many reactions ranged from deflated to flat-out angry.
"I am very upset," said Rosie Salis, 51, who came in from Foster City to see the relay. "There were lots of people here with their kids. They had to wait for four or five hours, and it's very disappointing."
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, a vocal critic of Newsom's administration, was equally unhappy, as was the local ACLU chapter.
"Gavin Newsom runs San Francisco the way the premier of China runs his country - secrecy, lies, misinformation, lack of transparency and manipulating the populace," Peskin said. "He did it so China can report they had a great torch run."
Newsom emphatically denied those accusations.
"We felt it was in everyone's best interest that we augment the route," Newsom said. "I believe people were afforded the right to protest and support the torch. You saw that in the streets. They were not denied the ability to protest."
Peter Ueberroth, head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, agreed. He was with the mayor during the run, and he thought the tactics saved the day.
"The city of San Francisco, from a global perspective, will be applauded," he said.
Chronicle staff writers Wyatt Buchanan, Jaxon VanDerbeken, Michael Taylor, John Koopman, Michael Cabanatuan, Robert Selna, Steve Rubenstein, Kelly Zito, Cecilia M. Vega, Anastasia Ustinova, Reyhan Harmanci and Meredith May contributed to this report. E-mail the writers at rgordon@sfchronicle.com, tschevitz@sfchronicle.com, kfagan@sfchronicle.com and mlagos@sfchronicle.com.
Pro-Tibet protesters gathered ahead of the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco on April 9, 2008.
The Olympic torch relay in San Francisco, California, began today at 1:00 p.m. PDT (UTC-7). It was the only stop for the torch in the United States, as it makes its way around the world to Beijing, China, for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The route for the torch was materially altered as protesters filled the streets along the planned route. The route, which was originally 10 kilometres long, was shortened by nearly half, according to the San Francisco Police Department. In hopes that all eighty of the scheduled torch carriers would get a chance to carry the torch, the carriers ran in pairs.

The first torch carrier ran as scheduled, but then carried it into a warehouse, from which a motorcycle was observed leaving. The torch was then spotted again on a major street nearly two miles off course.

The rerouting was carefully planned, according to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who told ''Associated Press'', that it was because of "a disproportionate concentration of people in and around the start of the relay."

The closing ceremonies were held at San Francisco International Airport instead of the planned waterfront location at AT&T Park.

Matt Helmenstine, 30, a California high school teacher carrying a Tibetan flag told Reuters: "I think it's cowardly. If they can't run the torch through the city, it means that no one is supporting the games."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us to see the torch," said Nancy Chan, a local resident, to the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. "There is a lot of politics around it, but that is the great thing about America - the free speech." She and her 4-year-old son ran to the new route when it was announced.

Protestors filling the street in San Francisco. 
At least one protester was arrested, Xiao Tan, 32, of Chinese origin, who tried to unfurl a Tibetan flag. "I'm proud to be Chinese, but I don't like what's happening in Tibet," he told AFP. The ''Vancouver Sun'' reported a number of arrests, but says that violence is limited.

Peter Ueberroth, the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, said that the right balance had been reached, between preserving freedom of speech for protesters, while still providing an exhilarating experience for torchbearers, as well as preventing a repeat of the chaotic demonstrations that accompanied the torch in London and Paris.

Already Tuesday evening, hundreds paraded with Tibetan flags while chanting "Shame on China". On Monday, protesters hung banners from the Golden Gate Bridge. As the torch went to London and Paris, the torch relay was subject to large scale protests in both cities.

Tight security was planned in advance. Airspace restrictions have been put in place and over 700 security personnel are expected to be deployed including FBI agents. Police leave was cancelled. The United States Coast Guard patrolled the part of the route that was to take the torch along the waterfront at Fisherman's Wharf.

"We are trying to accomplish two goals here. One is to protect the right to free speech and the other is to ensure public safety, and here in San Francisco we are good at both of those things," said Nathan Ballard about the security. Ballard is a spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor's office.

"I am saddened that such a beautiful symbol of the torch, which unites people of different religions, different ethnic origin, different political systems, cultures and languages, has been attacked," said Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, to the ''Wall Street Journal''.

The Beijing Organizing Committee said in a statement on Monday: "We strongly condemn the actions of the few 'pro-Tibet independence' activists who have attempted to sabotage the Olympic Torch Relay. The Olympic flame belongs to the world and these actions are a serious violation of the Olympic spirit. They are bound to fail and will surely arouse the resentment of peace-loving people who support the Olympic Games."