The rally was the latest in a series of vocal and at times violent political demonstrations in a city where protest is a rich tradition but where residents have grown increasingly weary of extremist saber-rattling on their streets.

For weeks, the police and local politicians have been urging protesters not to show up at all, and those who inevitably arrive to be peaceful. Officials and residents feared a melee like one in the city on June 29, when a conservative writer was assaulted by black-clad protesters.

On Saturday, a few confrontations broke out in the park as the rally began, but the far-right groups eventually moved behind a police line and were separated from the counterprotesters by a wide gap that officers worked aggressively to maintain.

Later, many of the right-wing protesters left the area and crossed the nearby Hawthorne Bridge to the east side of the city. But some stayed on the west side, and Antifa members followed them through the downtown streets shouting at them to leave the city. At least two of those walking with the militia members appeared to have been hit with white substances resembling milkshakes.