Organisers had applied for a permit for as many as 400 people - but in the end they couldn't gather much more than 20. The counter-protesters came out in much larger numbers, a mix of locals with hand-made signs; Black Lives Matter activists, and also some Antifa - left-wing militants - dressed head to toe in black.<doc-sep>On August 12, 2018, one year after the white nationalist-organized “Unite the Right” protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, collapsed into chaos and violence that left one counterprotester dead and dozens injured, groups gathered near the White House for another “white civil rights rally.” The effort largely ended in failure. The white nationalist rally, which was expected to last two hours, finished before it was even scheduled to begin, as protesters trudged away due to a heavy rainstorm. And although event organizer Jason Kessler had expected as many as 400 people to attend, photos of the rally suggest that the crowd didn’t even amount to one-tenth of that size. From the moment they arrived in DC, the alt-right attendees were greatly outnumbered by thousands of counterprotesters, who took to the streets in both Charlottesville and Washington, DC, this weekend to push back against emboldened white supremacy. One of the largest counter-protests on Sunday came from the Shut it Down DC coalition, a group of nearly 40 organizations and community groups. The coalition held a “Still Here, Still Strong” rally in DC’s Freedom Plaza. A permitted event that included speeches and music, the rally aimed to amplify the voices of marginalized groups targeted by the alt-right one year ago in Charlottesville. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter DC and other groups held additional counterprotests and marches throughout the city. Counterprotesters said they were demonstrating against much more than a single rally. “This kind of violence follows you,” Constance, a survivor of the car attack that killed Heather Heyer during last year’s Charlottesville protests, told those gathered for the Shut It Down DC event. “In reality, it’s woven into the fabric of our history.” As Vox’s Jane Coaston noted before the events on Sunday, Unite the Right 2 follows a flurry of setbacks for the alt-right and many of its most prominent members. “Attendance numbers, then, won’t tell us everything about how strong (or how fragmented) the alt-right has been since Charlottesville, but they will give us a snapshot of a part of the current movement.” For those who gathered in Washington to protest the event, the second coming of Unite the Right offered a different opportunity: a chance to show the strength and resilience of marginalized communities. “DC is not a political playground for white supremacist attitudes and ideals,” Makia Green, an organizer with Black Lives Matter DC, told a crowd of counterprotesters on Sunday. “Real people live here.”<doc-sep>A white nationalist rally in Washington marking the one-year anniversary of racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, drew a few dozen demonstrators and thousands of counter-protesters. A large police presence kept the two sides separated in Lafayette Square in front of the White House, although President Donald Trump was not at home. Around 20 far-right members of Unite The Right, some wearing "Make America Great Again" hats and draped in US flags, travelled from Virginia to attend the rally on Sunday under heavy police escort. Image: Unite The Right's Jason Kessler says the rally was in the name of 'white civil rights' Image: A woman with an SS tattoo was among the white nationalist group The number was far short of the hundreds that principle organiser Jason Kessler was expecting, based on his event permit application. Mr Kessler blamed the low turnout on confusion over transport and harassment. Addressing his supporters at the rally, Mr Kessler claimed it was in the name of free speech. Advertisement He said: "I'm doing white rights. I explicitly want to stand up for white people. I'm not backing down on that. I do think that there is enormous social stigma that is keeping us from having same rights as other people." Image: There were several tense moments but the day appeared to pass without major incident Image: Antifa, opponents of white nationalists, burn a Confederate flag during the rally Thousands of counter-demonstrators showed up to jeer and shout insults at the Unite The Right rally, with some chanting "Nazis go home!" and "shame!" Makia Green, who represents the Washington branch of Black Lives Matter, told the crowd of counter-protesters: "We know from experience that ignoring white nationalism doesn't work." The Unite The Right rally and march ended earlier than planned at around 5pm when it began to rain and two police vans took the demonstrators back to Virginia. Image: A smoke grenade thrown by anti-fascist activists during the rally Meanwhile, officers used pepper spray to target a group of black-clad anti-fascists who scuffled with police, but the day appeared to end without major incident. Police said one person had been arrested. Last year, white supremacists marched through Charlottesville in two days of chaos that culminated with a man driving a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 people. Charlottesville police faced massive criticism for their response and their failure to keep demonstrators and counter-protesters apart. On Sunday in Charlottesville, Susan Bro, the mother of Ms Heyer who was killed last year, said: "There's so much healing to do. 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."<doc-sep>Marching shoulder to shoulder in the nation’s capital, large crowds turned out Sunday to denounce racism as a small contingent of white supremacists staged a rally in a park across from the White House — a disparity that was heartening to many but belied deep fears over rising racial divisions across the country. A year after deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., became a nationwide symbol of polarization and mayhem in the Trump era, authorities braced for potential clashes as the two sides converged on the same small patch of greenery in Lafayette Square. But as the steamy afternoon turned to a twilight thunderstorm, police managed to keep the opposing groups apart, with a few dozen white nationalists surrounded by barricades and vastly outnumbered by police, let alone the thousands of counter-demonstrators. Shouting matches erupted, with both sides hurling taunts and jeers, but the rallies ended at nightfall with no reports of serious injuries or violence. Advertisement President Trump did not hear the chants and music that echoed in the shadow of stately public buildings and monuments in downtown Washington. He will return Monday from a summer break at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J. Counterprotesters are seen behind a police line shouting at white supremacists during the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Lafayette Park on Aug. 12. (Michael Reynolds /EPA-EFE/REX/Shuttershock) As the counter-march grew in size, however, the president sent a series of angry tweets about the special counsel’s Russia investigation, castigating the Justice Department, the FBI and the news media. On Saturday, the eve of the Charlottesville anniversary, Trump tweeted that he condemned “all types of racism and acts of violence” and called for the nation to “come together.” “Riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division,” he wrote. “We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!” Last August, Trump triggered an outcry when he said “both sides” were to blame after a self-declared neo-Nazi rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman. The president also said then that many of the white nationalists were “good people.” Some critics said the careful wording of Saturday’s tweet about “all types of racism” echoed his earlier assignment of moral equivalence to both sides, even when coupled with his call for unity. They said it was a nod to Trump supporters who believe whites are victims of reverse discrimination and need protection. Last week, Trump appeared to stoke racial tensions when he insulted the intelligence of NBA star LeBron James and CNN anchor Don Lemon, both of whom are black, and again condemned black professional football players who kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality. Advertisement Counter-protesters began gathering in downtown Washington hours before the small group of “Unite the Right 2” marchers arrived. Elizabeth Oka, 28, a musician from Monrovia, Calif., said she felt morally obliged to protest hatred in all its forms. “If enough people do this, it sends a message,” she said, standing in a crowd in a plaza a few blocks from the White House. “As a citizen, it is my right and responsibility to do this.“ Nearby, Garold Jacob, a 36-year-old African American man from Brooklyn, N.Y., said he was afraid the country was moving backward in race relations. “This regression to the past cannot be allowed,” he said. A series of recent polls showed that a majority of Americans believe race relations have worsened under Trump. The results are heavily skewed by political affiliation, however, reflecting heightened partisan sentiment and sharply diverging views of Trump supporters and opponents. Advertisement Washington was on edge in advance of Sunday’s march. Local authorities, who are veterans of other protest marches, shut several downtown streets, removed trash cans and took other precautions. Dozens of motorcycle-mounted police, lined in long ranks, awaited the white supremacist marchers who took a train from Virginia and got out at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop in Washington, just less than a mile from the White House. Paramedics waited on standby, and Lafayette Square was cleared at one point for a final sweep by sniffer dogs. As the counter-protesting crowds grew larger in the late afternoon, some ominous signs emerged. “It takes a bullet to bash fash,” an apparent reference to fascism, read a banner carried by “antifa” protesters, many clad in black and wearing masks as they marched toward the White House. Heavily shielded by police, the white nationalist marchers, some clutching American flags, were whisked away in vans after cutting short their rally, which had been scheduled to run for two hours. Advertisement “Who’s the intolerant one?” Jason Kessler, who also had organized the original Charlottesville rally last year, asked in a brief speech that was nearly drowned out by hecklers who shouted across the police lines. “Us? Or those who showed up … to stop us from speaking?” In Charlottesville, 115 miles south of Washington, more than 100 anti-racism demonstrators gathered near the site where Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal, was run down and killed on Aug. 12, 2017. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, marked the anniversary by laying flowers at a makeshift memorial. She also paid tribute to two Virginia State Police troopers who were killed in the crash of a helicopter deployed during last year’s clashes. On the Sunday TV talk shows, critics faulted Trump for helping foment racial divisiveness, while supporters said he had not been sufficiently credited for decrying hate groups. Advertisement A former senior White House aide, ex-legislative director Marc Short, said the outcry over Trump’s initial blaming of both sides for the Charlottesville violence obscured his condemnation, two days later, of white supremacists and other hate groups. “We say the president didn’t call it out by name, but he did,” Short said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We mixed the messages, which was unfortunate and wrong. But he president did call it out, and too often we don’t actually remember that.” Critics painted a picture of a polarizing president who uses racially charged language and cultural grievances in the partisan debate over immigration and other issues.<doc-sep>
White nationalists who staged a rally near the White House in Washington DC found themselves dramatically outnumbered by thousands of counter-protesters. Key points: Counter-protesters heavily outnumber white nationalists Counter-protesters heavily outnumber white nationalists Authorities promise a big police presence Authorities promise a big police presence Donald Trump condemns "all types of racism" Dozens of police in bright yellow vests formed a tight cordon around a few dozen white nationalists, separating them from shouting counter-protesters within view of the White House. The rally was held a year after a deadly gathering of far-right extremists in Charlottesville. US President Donald Trump was not at home — he has been at his golf club in New Jersey for more than a week on a working vacation. Jason Kessler, the principal organiser of last year's Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, led the gathering he called a white civil rights rally in Washington's Lafayette Square. Thousands of counter-protesters gathered near the White House to protest against the Unite the Right rally. ( AP: Jacquelyn Martin Mr Kessler said in a permit application that he expected 100 to 400 people to participate, but the actual number was far lower: only around 30. Counter-protesters who assembled before the rally's scheduled start, vastly outnumbered Mr Kessler's crowd. Thousands showed up to jeer and shout insults at the white nationalists. Makia Green, who represents the Washington branch of Black Lives Matter, told the crowd: "We know from experience that ignoring white nationalism doesn't work." By about 5:00 pm, those in Mr Kessler's group packed into white vans and left, escorted by police. White nationalist Jason Kessler calls the rally a demonstration for white civil rights. ( AP: Alex Brandon In Charlottesville, the mother of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman who was killed when a car ploughed into a crowd of counter-protesters during last year's rally, said there was still much healing to be done. Loading "We have a huge racial problem in our city and in our country," she said. "We have got to fix this, or we'll be right back here in no time." Hundreds of neo-Nazis, skinheads and Ku Klux Klan members and other white nationalists descended on Charlottesville last year, in part to protest over the city's decision to remove a monument to Confederate general Robert E Lee from a park. At the time, Mr Trump said there were "very fine people" on both sides, spurring criticism from across the political divide that he was equating the counter-protesters with the rally attendees, who included neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. On Saturday, Mr Trump condemned "all types of racism" in a Twitter post marking the anniversary. Police patrol Vienna Metro Station where some white nationalists were expected to board trains for Washington. ( Reuters: Lucas Jackson AP