Washington was bracing for a white nationalist rally today, organised to coincide with the anniversary of last year's racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The 'Unite the Right 2' event is set to take place this evening in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. Several demonstrations by counter protesters, who were expected to outnumber the white nationalists, were due to be held nearby.
Authorities have promised an enormous police presence to keep both sides apart and avoid the street brawls that broke out last year in downtown Charlottesville. A local woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when an Ohio man, James Fields, drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters last year.
At the time, US President Donald 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.
Yesterday, Mr Trump condemned "all types of racism" in a Twitter post marking the anniversary.
Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Mr Trump, said today that the media was "just not covering" the president's repeated denunciations of white nationalists.
"He's calling for unity among all Americans and he denounced all forms of bigotry and acts of violence and racism," Ms Conway said on ABC's This Week programme.
Democratic US Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Mr Trump was not doing enough to disavow racists.
"He has not gone far enough," Mr Cummings said on ABC's This Week.
"I think it's a low bar for the president of the United States to simply say he's against racism. He's got to do better than that."
In Washington today, counter protesters planned an afternoon programme of music, speeches and poetry readings at Freedom Plaza, east of the White House.
Several counter protesters gathered near the Washington suburban metro station of Vienna, Virginia, where some white nationalists were expected to board trains to take them into the city.
Police used vehicles and traffic cones to seal off the station's parking lot, where about 40 officers in ballistic vests were also deployed.
In the picturesque college town of Charlottesville, hundreds of police officers maintained a security perimeter around the normally bustling downtown district throughout the day yesterday.
Vehicular traffic was barred from an area of more than 15 city blocks, while pedestrians were allowed access at two checkpoints where officers examined bags for weapons.
