Several hundred police officers will form a “security blanket” around the Olympic torch when it passes through the narrow streets of San Francisco tomorrow on its way to the summer Games in Beijing, amid worldwide protests over China’s military crack-down in Tibet.

Authorities fear that San Francisco, where some of the largest Iraq war demonstrations have been held, could witness more violent protests than those that accompanied the Olympic torch through London and Paris on part of its 85,000-mile, 21-country journey.

Even the city’s supervisors voted 8-3 for a resolution to accept the flame only with “alarm and protest” at China’s Tibet policy.

As a result of the controversy – and the obvious failure of the French security bubble – the route of the flame has been shortened dramatically to a six-mile loop along the San Francisco waterfront and will no longer stop in Chinatown or on the Golden Gate Bridge.

About 200 activists have already organised their own “human rights torch relay” in anticipation of tomorrow’s event.

“Our message is that the Olympic torch and crimes against humanity cannot coexist,” said Steve Ispas, the organiser.

Another group calling itself the Committee of 100 for Tibet will carry a “Tibetans Freedom Torch”, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Richard Gere, the actor, attending.

Chinese community leaders in San Francisco have questioned whether countries castigating China’s human rights record have the moral authority to do so, and say that Chinese-Americans are proud to welcome the Olympic torch.

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