It was billed as a clash of Americas: rival rallies going head to head in the city of Boston.

Free speech campaigners had been planning their event for months but it took on a whole new significance after the bloody events in Charlottesville last weekend. Fearing an invasion of white supremacists, local groups organised a counter-protest.

It was far from a fair fight.

About three dozen mostly white figures gathered on the Parkman Bandstand at the appointed time, ringed by American flags, police officers and fencing.