Story highlights Rally intended to focus on attempts to erase Confederate history, organizer says

Counter-demonstrators outnumber pro-white attendees

Atlanta (CNN) One "pro-white" demonstrator and eight counter-demonstrators were arrested Saturday during a rally at a suburban Atlanta landmark that pays tribute to Confederate leaders.

The eight counter-demonstrators were among a crowd that appeared to outnumber by nearly 10 to 1 those wearing "White Lives Matter" shirts and waving Confederate flags.

The ninth arrested person was from the pro-white group that staged the rally at Stone Mountain Park; he apparently threw a smoke bomb at law enforcement officers, said John Bankhead, spokesman for the park's Department of Public Safety.

Police in riot gear appeared to outnumber everyone, maintaining a sprawling presence around separate areas containing the different groups. Tensions appeared to level off after the arrests, with the opposing groups keeping to designated areas of a parking lot at the base of Stone Mountain. By around 2 p.m., people from both sides began to leave the park, the latest site of the divisive battle over Confederate landmarks in the South.

"White power" group vastly outnumbered by counter-protesters at Stone Mountain https://t.co/Eeoyht7KYK pic.twitter.com/OmJs6IeXFi — AJC (@ajc) April 23, 2016

White supremacists gather at Stone Mountain pic.twitter.com/4MjkuYDH6M — Craig Schneider (@Scraigo) April 23, 2016

Once a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity, Stone Mountain Park is home to a large carving in the granite mountain depicting Confederate leaders President Jefferson Davis and Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.