Mayor praises people’s response to the right-wing rally that didn’t happen

Latest updates in advance of a planned right-wing gathering in San Francisco on Saturday:

5:06 p.m.: San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said late Saturday that he was proud to see the large and peaceful outpouring of residents march against hate in San Francisco on Saturday.

“They marched in the mission. They marched in the Castro. They marched in Alamo Square,” he said, standing outside City Hall. “They made sure the themes of love and compassion dominated over hate speech.”

Lee said the city was still on full alert as thousands continued to demonstrate against what was supposed to be a right-wing rally in San Francisco this weekend. Nearby at Civic Center Plaza, musical act Michael Franti entertained hundreds of people who were out to protest racism and bigotry.

Police Chief Bill Scott said there were no major problems at any of the many demonstrations Saturday. One person was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication.

Protesters gather on Steiner Street outside of Alamo Square Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, August 26, 2017. Protesters gather on Steiner Street outside of Alamo Square Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, August 26, 2017. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 114 Caption Close Mayor praises people’s response to the right-wing rally that didn’t happen 1 / 114 Back to Gallery

“What you saw today is a city that came together,” he said.

4:40 p.m.: Gibson talks: Joey Gibson spoke briefly to reporters and supporters at Crissy Field late Saturday afternoon, expressing his appreciation that people showed up, even though the planned rally was canceled. He said he did not go the substitute Alamo Square event Saturday because antifa groups were threatening his safety.

He blamed those same groups for inciting violence and again charged that Mayor Ed Lee and Rep. Nancy Pelosi were putting out misinformation about him, his Patriot Prayer group and his supporters. He reiterated he is not and does not support white supremacists.

“They stirred up so much hatred and anger because they believed they were trying to incite violence,” Gibson said of the politicians. “I’m having to go from spot to spot because antifa really wants to come after me.”

He hugged and chatted with several supporters afterwards.

The crowd at Crissy Field was a small mix of patriot rally participants and counter protestors, three dozen people at its largest. Shortly after Gibson’s arrival, a group of counter protestors began chanting “Black Lives Matter,” and two of Gibson’s supporters shouted back “also!”

3:58 p.m.: Gibson at Crissy: Joey Gibson, organizer of the right-win Patriot Prayer rally that never took place, just arrived at Crissy Field.

3:10 p.m.: Marchers leaving: The main event is over! Now just maybe 100 marchers milling around at 24th and Mission.

2:45 p.m.: March ending: The march has ended at 24th and Mission, with speakers addressing the crowd over microphones. People are peeling off and going home. This demonstration will probably come to a slow end soon.

Mission residents and merchants were surprised by the march, but several who spoke to the Chronicle said the disruption didn’t bother them.

“It’s OK, it’s a free country,” said Gubren Azeb, who works at his uncle’s store, George’s Market, on Mission Street.

Star Hotel resident John Hairston gazed at the marchers in disbelief as they streamed by his building.

“Where did all these people come from?” he asked, shaking his head.

2:12 p.m.: Patriot Prayer’s take: The leader of a right-wing group that canceled gatherings at both Crissy Field and Alamo Square Park in San Francisco complained the city had made it all but impossible for him to put on an event in public.

“Today has been a crazy day,” Joey Gibson, organizer of the group Patriot Prayer, said on a Facebook Live broadcast. “Everywhere we go the police, the city, they want to shut it down.”

Gibson said officials such as Mayor Ed Lee and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco had wrongly labeled his group white supremacists while ignoring what he called the threat to public safety from counter-protesters such as those who massed outside Alamo Square Park on Saturday.

Referring to confrontational left-wing activists who have clashed with people at some right-wing rallies, Gibson said he had a question for San Francisco and other liberal cities. “Do you stand with antifa or not? Ask your mayor. Ask Nancy Pelosi. They’re using them as tools. They’re afraid to speak out against them.”

Gibson, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, gave no indication he was planning any other events locally. He said he intended to talk with people in random spots throughout the day — downtown, Alamo Park possibly, or Crissy Field. “Just kind of walk the streets,” he said.

1:20 p.m.: Rerouting protesters: Several hundred counter protesters have left the area around Alamo Square Park on what protest leaders say is a march to the Mission District.

Police had been encouraging the people protesting a right-wing group’s now-canceled press conference in Alamo Square Park to head instead toward a planned rally at Civic Center.

Some protesters were trying to break through barricades that police put up on streets about a block from Alamo Square, which is surrounded by a fence that workers erected Saturday morning and closed to the public. Police were confronting protesters at a barricade at Steiner and Fell streets, a block south of the park.

After the barricade briefly gave way, several dozen police officers ran up the street to create a new barrier, this time using their bodies. Protesters chanted, “Let us in!” and “Our streets!”

The leader of a group calling itself Frisco Resistance negotiated with an officer, and the officer seemed to agree to allow more protesters to enter the area via Hayes Street.

While the protesters had called for a march through the city, it appeared police wanted the crowd to march down Hayes toward Civic Center, where a large rally with musical performances began at noon.

Lines of officers ushered the crowd down to Steiner and Hayes streets, where the protesters were blocked on every side, except Hayes going east, toward Civic Center.

Earlier, the several hundred counter protesters held a “victory rally” just outside fenced off Alamo Square.

Police initially tried to clear the area adjacent to the park to control the crowds but then allowed the rally to proceed.

A handful of speakers, addressing the gathering through a mic and speakers, condemned racism and criticizing President Trump for not being harder on bigotry.

“Today the white supremacists got the message,” said one of the speakers at the makeshift “victory rally” a teacher who identified herself only as Natalie.

10:29 a.m.: Park closes: San Francisco police and park department rangers closed off Alamo Square Park. Rangers announced through bullhorns that all visitors must leave, and officers escorted people out of the park. Police wearing helmets and carrying zip-tie restraints fanned out in the park.

Earlier in the day, the city had put fencing on all four sides of Alamo Square.

Dozens of police officers and Recreation and Park Department rangers patrolled the park and surrounding streets while hundreds of people stood on sidewalks. Some were protesters who came there in anticipation of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer holding what it billed as a 2 p.m. press conference.

A group of protesters came dressed in costume while others held signs reading “No Hate” and “Black Lives Matter.” One individual banged on a drum while people danced nearby.

“If you don’t think fighting white supremacy is an emergency, you’re enabling it,” said Lola Marie, 31, who drove from San Jose Saturday morning to demonstrate against the far right agitators.

Patriot Prayer organizer Joey Gibson, who scheduled a rally for Crissy Field before canceling Friday, said his Alamo Square event was now off as well. He posted on Facebook a plan to hold an indoor news conference at an as-yet undisclosed location and then “pop up at random spots in the city” to talk to people. He did not elaborate.

9:34 a.m.: Shifting plans: The Patriot Prayer organizer who moved Saturday’s right-wing gathering from Crissy Field to Alamo Square Park says he’ll hold an “indoor” news conference now that the city has fenced off the Western Addition park.

“I will be doing an indoor news conference at 2 pm, then will pop up at random spots in the city to talk with any citizens of SF. Keep any eye on my Page,” Joey Gibson posted on Facebook. He did not offer more specifics.

Gibson also posted that he apologized to “everyone that spent money and plane tickets to come down here.” He told people to “stay tuned.”

Mayor Ed Lee said at a tree-planting ceremony at Balboa High School that he would not talk about the closure of the park or any security measures “because events keep changing.”

“I’m leaving all the tactics around keeping the city safe to the Police Department,” said Lee, adding he was headed to a meeting with police officials straight from the park. “Nobody trusts any of the announcements going out by the groups.”

The Rev. Amos Brown of Third Baptist Church, strolling the perimeter of the park, said closing it was the “sensible thing to do to contain evil.”

“People on the alt-right are hate mongers,” he said. “They’re perpetrators of ignorance.”

The square is across the street from the famed “Painted Ladies,” a row of elegantly decorated Victorian houses. One of the houses was adorned with a large banner that said, “Love Trumps Hate.”

9:20 a.m.: Park off-limits: San Francisco officials are closing Alamo Square Park to the public, a park ranger said, a move that would keep a right-wing group from following through with its plan to hold a press conference there.

City workers erected a Cyclone-style fence around the park early Saturday, and a Recreation and Park Department ranger said the park would be closed at 10 a.m.

8:30 a.m. Park closure: San Francisco police appeared to be limiting public access to Alamo Square Park, casting into doubt a right-wing group’s last-minute plans to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. in the Western Addition park.

Ramon Beltran, a police services aide at the department’s Northern Station, said Alamo Square would be closed to the public “for as long as deemed necessary.” However, it was unclear whether or when a closure would take effect. City workers erected a Cyclone-type fence around the park early Saturday, but some people were still being allowed to walk through.

City officials noted that organizers of the Patriot Prayer rally originally planned for Crissy Field had not obtained a permit for their press conference. Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson said the same speakers and bands that had been scheduled to appear at Crissy Field would also be at Alamo Square. The Crissy Field event had a permit from the National Park Service.

7:53 a.m. Getting ready: San Francisco officials scrambled to make plans for a rescheduled right-wing gathering Saturday at a Western Addition park, one day after organizers canceled a scheduled rally in the Presidio.

Workers were erecting a temporary Cyclone-type fence Saturday morning around Alamo Square Park, where members of the group Patriot Prayer said they planned to hold a 2 p.m. press conference. The group had secured a permit for rally Saturday afternoon at Crissy Field but scratched their plans Friday, complaining that officials had unfairly labeled them white supremacists and created dangerous conditions for the event.

Authorities had compiled a long list of banned items for the Crissy Field rally and erected a fence around the site, with plans to check attendees and counterprotesters who were massing for the event. The fence being erected Saturday around Alamo Square Park indicated that similar tight access was likely for Patriot Prayer’s rescheduled press conference.

Officials with the city’s emergency operations center said it would open at 9 a.m., two hours earlier than planned, in light of the rescheduled gathering.

Patriot Prayer has not obtained a permit for the event. The same speakers and bands that were going to appear at Crissy Field will be at Alamo Square Park, organizer Joey Gibson said in a Facebook Live broadcast Friday. That raised questions about whether the event would be a press conference in the traditional sense.

San Francisco officials said all police officers would be on duty Saturday. Mayor Ed Lee said in a tweet late Friday, “Public safety is always our top priority. We are prepared for contingencies and spontaneous events.”

There were no reports of anyone at either Crissy Field or Alamo Square early in the morning.

Both Lee and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, had criticized the original permit granted by the National Park Service for the Crissy Field event. Pelosi called it a “white supremacist rally.”

Organizers insisted the planned “freedom rally” had no racist overtones. Gibson noted that not all the scheduled speakers were white and that he identifies as Japanese American.

The San Francisco rally had been the first of two right-wing gatherings scheduled for the Bay Area this weekend. On Friday, one of the organizers of a “No to Marxism” rally in Berkeley said the scheduled Sunday event also had been canceled and urged people not to attend.

Berkeley officials and police said they still expect some form of event to be held in the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park.

Kurtis Alexander, Jenna Lyons and Hamed Aleaziz are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com, haleaziz@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @kurtisalexander @Jenna Journo @haleaziz