Police fired pepper spray to disperse protesters outside a rally by US President Donald Trump in Phoenix, Arizona, after being pelted with rocks and bottles.
Police have not given an estimate of the number of protesters, but Arizona media said there were several thousand.
"People in the crowd have begun throwing rocks and bottles at police," Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sergeant Jonathan Howard said.
Police called on the crowds to disperse.
Many of the protesters quit the scene, while dozens of police in riot gear and carrying shields sought to clear remaining protesters from the downtown area.
Mr Trump mounted an aggressive defence of his response to the deadly far right march in Virginia, using his rally speech to condemn "dishonest" media coverage of his widely criticised remarks.
He has faced bipartisan outrage after blaming "many sides" for violence at the rally in Charlottesville that took the life of an anti-fascist protester.
Donald Trump mocks "fake news" media: "They're bad people" pic.twitter.com/otUocEDxD7
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) August 23, 2017
Re-reading his statements, he criticised reporters for misrepresenting his remarks - but omitted the equivocation that had sparked the backlash in the first place.
"The very dishonest media ... and I mean truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up stories. They have no sources in many cases. They say a source says there is no such thing," he said.
"But they don't report the facts. Just like they don't want to report that I spoke out forcefully against hatred, bigotry and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the white supremacists and the KKK."
Mr Trump dedicated around half an hour of his 78-minute speech in Phoenix to attacking the "sick people" in the news media, before turning his fire on his own side.
Speculation had been building that Mr Trump would use the rally to formally endorse a challenger to incumbent moderate Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake, in a shot across the bow of sceptical Republicans.
He mocked both Mr Flake and fellow Arizona Republican senator John McCain, implying Mr McCain had sabotaged Republican healthcare reforms, but elaborately avoided mentioning either by name.
Veering off script, Mr Trump shied away from issuing a pardon for Joe Arpaio - a former sheriff in Arizona who was convicted of wilfully violating a court order to stop targeting Hispanics in immigration roundups.
But he gave strong hints that he was preparing a future pardon, saying: "I think he's going to be just fine, okay? I won't do it tonight because I don't want to cause any controversy."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders had earlier told reporters there would be "no discussion" of Arpaio at the rally.
Mr Trump also voiced optimism over improvements in relations with North Korea following an escalation in aggressive rhetoric on both sides concerning North Korea's nuclear programme.
