(Reuters) – Hundreds of counter-protesters gathered near a barricaded San Francisco park Saturday despite the cancellation of a free-speech rally that city leaders feared could draw right-wing extremists.

The planned gathering by Patriot Prayer had been the centerpiece of a weekend of protests in the Bay Area that had raised concern among police and elected officials two weeks after right-wing activists, including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, fought with anti-racism protesters in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson, who has denied that his group is extremist or white nationalist, wrote on Facebook Saturday he would hold an indoor news conference and show up at random spots in the city to talk to residents.

In nearby Berkeley, officials earlier in the week had denied a permit for conservative activists to hold a “No to Marxism” rally Sunday.

Also Saturday, an estimated 400 counter-demonstrators gathered in Knoxville, Tennessee to protest less than two dozen demonstrators at a white separatist rally at the Fort Sanders Confederate memorial, which some have called to remove, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported.

Police officers and barricades separated the two sides. One organizer carried a sign reading, “Stand Against Leftist Hate” to the hisses and boos of counter-protesters, the paper reported. Photos showed them holding Confederate flags.

A woman who was not yet identified was arrested when she attempted to crash the counter-protester side late Saturday afternoon, according to local media.