White supremacists and their opponents stage protests in Washington (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Crowds of anti-nationalist protesters have gathered to protest the Unite the Right rally one year after the Charlottesville clashes. The police presence has been increased to avoid clashes in the center of the US capital.

Counter-protesters have gathered across from the White House in Lafayette Park in Washington DC to oppose a white nationalist rally that has been approved to take place in the US capital on Sunday afternoon. Many demonstrators were seen carrying signs stating “shut down white supremacy” and chanting “No KKK, no fascist USA!” “We will be here until these fascist forces are gone, however long that takes,” a protester told AP.

Unite the Right demonstrators gathered outside the US capital and were delivered to the protest site in buses.

The white supremacist rally organizer, Jason Kessler, earlier said that he expects 100 to 400 people to participate in his event in front of the White House. The Unite the Right rally officially kicked off at 5pm.

To avoid a major showdown between the Antifa crowd and Kessler’s, police organized a motorcycle escort, shadowing the man who was behind last year’s rally in Charlottesville. As the escort was about to leave, Antifa protesters tried to block the procession by launching fireworks over the barricade.

The authorities had promised an enormous police presence to keep white supremacists and counter-protesters apart, and to avoid brawls. Buses carrying Unite the Right protesters are being escorted by double lines of police cars and a line of motorcycle police. The demonstrators were reportedly told they have to surrender flagpoles.

Scuffles broke out after a counter-protester grabbed Unite the Right participants near a metro station in downtown Washington, photos on social media show. 

Failure to separate raging crowds in Charlottesville one year ago resulted in clashes.

“I’m here to drown out hate and amplify this message,” John Walsh, 43, from Boston told USA Today, “As a white, middle-age man, I think I have a voice and feel a duty to use it to counter this insanity.”

Another protester, Bob Baker, said: “I am a patriot. I deeply love my country, I’m deeply disturbed by what I’m seeing these days.”

Demonstrators opposed to a far-right rally gather at Lafayette Park opposite the White House © AFP

Meanwhile, more than 100 people have gathered in downtown Charlottesville demonstrating against racism. The rally marked the one-year anniversary of the Unite the Right rally, which resulted in heavy clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters. The group was chanting, addressing police officers who were accompanying them: “Will you protect us?”

Susan Bro gestures at the site where her daughter Heather Heyer was killed, on the one year anniversary of 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" protests © Reuters

The event in Charlottesville was attended by Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, who was killed when a Unite the Right demonstrator plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. “We have a huge racial problem in our city and in our country. We have got to fix this or we'll be right back here in no time,” she said.

Charlottesville rejected Unite the Right’s request to stage a repeat rally, so the march has been relocated to Washington DC, where police have promised a heavy presence to separate the demonstrators from the likely much-larger counter-protester gathering.

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