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SAN FRANCISCO — The National Park Service gave final approval Wednesday for a controversial right-wing rally at San Francisco’s Crissy Field on Saturday afternoon, setting the stage for a weekend of potential clashes in the Bay Area.

The 2 p.m. rally, which local leaders have described as a “white nationalist” event but organizers say is intended simply to promote free speech, was signed off on by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

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Walnut Creek police chief Tom Chaplin announces retirement “We cannot deny a permit to anyone planning to exercise their First Amendment rights based on their political stance or beliefs,” Acting General Superintendent Cicely Muldoon said in a statement.

A permit for the rally was rubber-stamped earlier this month, but park officials reviewed their decision after politicians such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee objected, saying the rally could lead to deadly violence like that in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Previous events organized by the same Portland-based group, Patriot Prayer, have attracted white nationalist contingents and devolved into violence. The Oath Keepers, a conservative militia group, have said they will send members to the San Francisco rally.

Joey Gibson, the founder of Patriot Prayer and the organizer of the rally, said he denounced racism and wouldn’t allow any extremists into his event. The permit approval, Gibson told this news organization, was a sign that “the First Amendment will be respected.”

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In a news conference at City Hall on Wednesday, Lee said he was “deeply disappointed” in the decision. “The shameful, anti-American trend of hate-filled extremist rallies will unfortunately be allowed to continue this weekend in our city,” he said.

Muldoon said that after consulting with law enforcement, parks officials determined that protesters would come to Crissy Field on Saturday whether a permit was issued or not — and that issuing a permit would help maintain order. The permit was issued “with significant conditions to promote the peaceful, non-violent expression of views,” Muldoon said.

According to the permit conditions, prohibited items in the rally area include guns, weapons of any kind, explosives, toy guns, helmets, drones, mace, pepper spray and selfie sticks.

But people with California concealed weapons permits will still be allowed to bring guns onto federal property outside the permitted areas. “We can’t rewrite the Constitution,” said San Francisco police Chief Bill Scott.

Police are preparing a muscular response to what could be hundreds or thousands of demonstrators and counter-protesters converging on Crissy Field. Nearly every San Francisco police officer will be on duty on Saturday.

Permits were also issued for four other events in the park on Friday and Saturday, which appear to be vigils and rallies opposed to the Patriot Prayer event. Another counter-protest sponsored by city officials is planned across town at Civic Center Plaza on the same day.

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“Do not engage with the members of this group, whose only priority is to incite violence through divisive rhetoric,” Lee said.

A second “free speech” rally will be held Sunday in Berkeley’s Civic Center Park. That event has not received a permit, and no one has applied for a permit for it, according to Berkeley officials.

Meanwhile, San Franciscans opposed to the right-wing rally have also come up with other creative — and smelly — ways of fighting back. A popular Facebook event has encouraged locals to take their dogs to Crissy Field and let them poop there in the days leading up to Patriot Prayer’s event.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 885 people marked themselves as “going” to that event — more than double the number of people who’ve signed up to say they’re going to the rally itself.