Hundreds of protesters shouted down white supremacist leader Richard Spencer on Thursday at a university in Florida, forcing him to leave the stage without delivering his speech.

Only around 30 supporters of the controversial white nationalist made it into the University of Florida auditorium at Gainesville, massively outnumbered by protesters who chanted "No more Spencer!"

Spencer, a leader of the so-called alt-right movement that includes white supremacists, neo-Nazis and supporters of the Ku Klux Klan, was one of the organisers of the August march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a far-right supporter drove his car into a crowd of demonstrators, killing a 32-year-old woman.

Fearing a repeat of clashes between far-right demonstrators and anti-fascist protesters, security was tight for Spencer’s speech, with police flooding the streets and Florida governor Rick Scott declaring a state of emergency in the area.

As he stepped on to the stage, Spencer was greeted with a chorus of angry and profanity-laced jeers and chants, drowning out his voice.