One of America's most infamous white nationalists has been banned from 26 European countries.

Richard Spencer was banned from entering the visa-free Schengen area for five years, according to Poland's state-run news agency PAP. The news agency cited unnamed sources close to Poland's Foreign Ministry.

Mr Spencer, who famously led chants of "Hail Trump" and Nazi salutes at a Washington DC rally last year, previously was banned from the Schengen zone for three years after his 2014 arrest in Hungary, where he had planned to host a conference.

He told the Associated Press he would try to contest a new ban.

"I'm being treated like a criminal by the Polish government. It's just insane," he said. "I haven't done anything. What are they accusing me of?"

Mr Spencer popularized the term "alt-right" to describe a fringe movement that's a loose mix of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigration beliefs.