Charlottesville, Virginia (CNN)[Breaking news update, published at 3:06 p.m. ET]
Several pedestrians were struck Saturday in a three-vehicle crash in Charlottesville, Virginia, after police began dispersing demonstrators from a white-nationalist and right-wing rally, the Virginia State Police said on Twitter. There are "multiple injuries," police said.
Video of the incident shows a gray Dodge Challenger driving quickly down a narrow side street lined with walking protesters. The sports car rams into the back of a silver convertible, and soon the Dodge driver slams the car in reverse, going back up the street at a high rate of speed, dragging its front bumper.
Several people chase the car. As the sports car retreats, a red athletic shoe falls off the bumper.
Virginia's governor declared an emergency, and police worked to disperse hundreds of protesters in Charlottesville after clashes broke out ahead of Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalists and other right-wing groups.
Fistfights and screaming matches erupted shortly before rally's scheduled noon ET start. The skirmishes unfolded following a scuffle Friday night between torch-bearing demonstrators and counter-protesters at the nearby University of Virginia.
Saturday's rally was the latest event drawing white nationalists and right-wing activists from across the country to this Democratic-voting college town -- a development precipitated by the city's decision to remove symbols of its Confederate past.
Here are the latest developments:
• President Donald Trump tweeted: "We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!"
• Police began to break up crowds shortly before noon after city officials declared the gathering an "unlawful assembly." Police officers spoke on bullhorns, directing people to leave.
• The declaration was made after fistfights and screaming matches erupted in several locations late Saturday morning.
• Some protesters fired pepper spray at other demonstrators, state police said.
• Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency "to aid state response to violence," according to a post on his Twitter account.
• An unspecified number of protesters have been arrested in Charlottesville, state police said.
Police in riot gear stood shoulder to shoulder behind shields early Saturday afternoon, at times advancing toward crowds, CNN video shows. Members of the Virginia National Guard also were there.
By 1 p.m. ET, police had cleared the park where the rally was to be held. It wasn't immediately clear how many demonstrators remained in other parts of the city.
"It is now clear that public safety cannot be safeguarded without additional powers, and that the mostly out-of-state protesters have come to Virginia to endanger our citizens and property," McAullife said. "I am disgusted by the hatred, bigotry and violence these protesters have brought to our state over the past 24 hours."
It wasn't immediately clear what led to the fights, though tensions and rhetoric were running hot. At one point, a few dozen white men wearing helmets and holding makeshift shields chanted, "Blood and soil!" Later, another group chanted slogans like, "Nazi scum off our streets!"