Those much-disputed boulders set out to thwart drug dealing and big tents on Clinton Park alley in San Francisco are now gone, after days of activists rolling them into the street and city workers hefting them back onto the sidewalk.

Just before noon Monday, the final bits and pieces of the anti-homeless boulders were removed from Clinton Park by San Francisco Public Works crews.

It took less than an hour for a crew with a front-end loader to scoop the large rocks from the sidewalk and street and heave them into a big dump truck.

A few neighbors and passersby watched as the controversial rocks were removed. They had mixed opinions.

“I believe there has to be a better solution than blocking people from using a public sidewalk,” said Greg Aherne, a San Francisco native riding his bike to bring peanut butter sandwiches and hygiene kits to the homeless. “The rocks send the wrong message. But it shows how desperate people are.”

As a new day and work week dawned Monday, San Franciscans had eagerly waited to find out whether the now-famous boulders were on the street or on the sidewalk and whether this game with 300-pound pieces would find a resolution — and they got their answer just after sunup.

“At the request of the residents, we will be taking the boulders out,” San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru told The Chronicle Monday morning. “My understanding is that some of the residents felt that they were being targeted” by opponents of the boulders.

As for the possibility of the boulders — or some other type of barrier — going in later, Nuru said: “We will support whatever the residents want to do.”

“We are out there every day working to keep the streets clean. We can use all of the help we can get,” Nuru said.

The rocks will be put into storage, city officials said.

Some residents have said that several people who live in homes on the street originally pooled together $2,000 to buy the rocks and install them. It was unclear what they will want to do with the rocks, now that they’ve been removed.

One resident who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation by activists said neighbors were being harassed in person and online by people opposed to the boulders, and the pressure was more than troublesome. Neighbors were getting death threats, being viciously trolled specifically by activists who found their names and addresses, and being shouted at on the street, the resident said.

“We can’t get it across enough that these rocks are not about being against the homeless — it’s about stopping criminal behavior,” the resident said. “It’s such a shame that humanity is bottom-barrel about this without asking questions. I wish they actually understood what we were doing.”

The resident said the boulders did apparently deter the rampant drug dealing and use that happened on the street. But while the rocks were out, “we traded criminals for activists and the media,” and the resultant hostility and scrutiny has been brutal.

“We don’t want to feel the fire anymore,” the resident said.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Clinton Park area, said he intends to keep working for a longer-term solution to the situation.

“I met with residents yesterday and they are feeling intimidated and frightened,” he said. “They didn’t like having drug dealing and violence outside their doors before, and they don’t like masked vigilantes coming in and protesting and removing rocks.

“This is not Pacific Heights,” Mandelman said. “These are regular San Francisco renters and homeowners. This isn’t a step back. We are going to be with residents to find a more permanent solution.”

Shortly after 7 a.m., about half of the big rocks still sat solidly, as rocks do, on the side of Clinton Park, a small residential street just off Dolores and Market streets. The other half were in the street; one rolled across the street, where it nearly clipped a classic blue Mustang and a white Prius.

Originally and mysteriously placed three weeks ago, apparently by residents to block homeless people and drug dealers from congregating, the boulders have become a symbol in San Francisco’s uncomfortable struggle to deal with homelessness and open drug use and dealing.

Neighbors seem split on the tactic of using big boulders on the edge of the sidewalk to prevent people from erecting large tents. The rocks — 24 in all — were placed behind the Pet Food Express store, which backs up to Clinton Park, and in front of residences.

One neighbor told The Chronicle the boulders were “not a perfect solution,” but were necessary because drug dealing had gotten out of control.

“People were dealing drugs, using drugs, harassing people,” she said. “In one case someone brandished a knife.”

She said neighbors had worked with the city, including Supervisor Mandelman, and called the police hundreds of times before resorting to the rocks.

Michael Cabanatuan, Phil Matier and Kevin Fagan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mcabatuan@sfchronicle.com, pmatier@sfchronicle.com and kfagan@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @ctuan, @Philmatier, @KevinChron