Washington: A short and sparsely attended white nationalist rally in Washington broke up late Sunday as police ushered the attendees into white vans and rove them away from a crowd of thousands of angry counter-protesters.

Police were out in force ahead of the planned white nationalist rally that was organised to coincide with the anniversary of last year's racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The "Unite the Right 2" event was set to take place at 5.30pm (7.30am AEST) in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. Several demonstrations by counter-protesters, who were expected to outnumber the white nationalists, were being held nearby and polcie were determined to keep the two sides from clashing.

White supremacist Jason Kessler arrives at the Vienna metro station to travel to Washington on the first anniversary of their rally in Charlottesville. Credit:AP

There was an enormous police presence to avoid the street brawls that broke out last year in downtown Charlottesville. A local woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when an Ohio man, James Fields, drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.