Thousands of mostly mask-less supporters of President Donald Trump descended on downtown Washington on Saturday, alleging widespread voter fraud and echoing the president’s baseless claims of a “stolen” election.

Democratic and Republican election officials across dozens of states found no evidence of widespread voter fraud or other irregularities in the election, but signs painted with calls to “stop the steal” filled the streets and chants of “four more years” rang out as demonstrators marched downtown.

Randy Barrett, who drove down from New Jersey with his wife to attend the rally, echoed spurious claims that the election was being “stolen” and expressed his unwavering support for the president.

Barrett argued that Trump has drastically improved the lives of small business owners like himself, claiming that his tree service company began booming immediately after the president assumed office. As he spoke, Barrett gestured to the thousands of Trump supporters streaming up Constitution Avenue.

“I feel fantastic,” said Barrett, who wore a Make America Great Again cap. “The American people, of all walks of life, no matter whether they’re Black, Spanish, gay, white. It doesn’t matter. Everyone is here for Donald Trump.”

The largely white crowd initially gathered near Freedom Plaza for what has alternately been dubbed the “Million MAGA March,” the “March for Trump” or “Stop the Steal.” While it was the largest group of Trump supporters the nation’s capital has seen in months, it certainly did not approach a million people, as falsely claimed by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Twitter.

The planned events had stirred anxiety in the District over the past week, as experts warned they could attract white nationalists and other extremists and the city braced for confrontations with counter protesters.

By 4:30 p.m. there were 10 arrests linked to the demonstrations — four for firearm violations, two for simple assault, one for an assault on a police officer, and two for disorderly conduct, according to D.C. police. There also was one arrest of an individual attempting to drive through an area that was closed to vehicular traffic.

Heated arguments and confrontations continued into the evening, which saw increasing reports of violence breaking out.

The day began with the Proud Boys, a far-right group of self-described “western chauvinists,” descending on the plaza and marching through nearby streets. (The group’s chairman Enrique Tarrio had promoted the event on social media last week.) Other extremist groups and right-wing figures like the Oath Keepers and Infowars’ Alex Jones also made appearances throughout the day.

As the streets began to fill with demonstrators clad in red, white, and blue, Trump made good on a Friday tweet suggesting he would “stop by” the demonstrations. The president headed down E Street in a motorcade around 10:15 a.m. to greet his supporters, who gave him a hero’s welcome.

But they were also soon joined by counter-protesters. Brief skirmishes broke out in Freedom Plaza between supporters of the president and demonstrators, some of whom were with Refuse Fascism — a group that frequently hosts protests outside of the White House. The group brought a bus of New York City residents to the city to counterprotest Saturday’s rally.

Tensions escalated as the day wore on and the crowds marched from Freedom Plaza toward the Supreme Court. U.S. Capitol Police in riot gear, helmets, and masks and Supreme Court Police formed a line to separate the two groups, at one point blocking off a cluster of Proud Boys when they neared opposing demonstrators by the Supreme Court.

Pro-Trump protesters continued their chants of “four more years” near the Supreme Court and professed that Trump would win Georgia. Several news outlets called Georgia, a traditionally red state, for President-elect Joe Biden on Friday, beating Trump by more than 10,000 votes.

Blocks away near Black Lives Matter Plaza — the locus of the city’s protests against police brutality — the president’s supporters were met by counter-protesters and police. (A similar scene had played out on Friday afternoon, when a crowd of pro-Trump demonstrators filled the plaza and ripped down the protest artwork that plastered the fence around the White House.)

While the rally didn’t draw the million people of its namesake, both local supporters and pro-Trump allies from across the country poured into the city. Maryland Grassroots Republicans planned a trip into the city, as did the Virginia Asian Pacific Americans for Trump.

Others came from much farther away.

Luis Huerta said he drove without stopping from Midland-Odessa, Texas, with his family for the rallies. He said Trump has protected freedom of speech and religion during his presidency, values he feels the country is losing.

“It’s about time our voices were heard and about time we stop giving ground,” Huerta said as he held a “Texans for Trump” sign. “This country was founded on certain principles and it’s about time we uphold those principles.”

Huerta said he believed the country was thriving under Trump until the coronavirus pandemic and that the president has done an “awesome” job navigating the country through the public health crisis. On Friday, the U.S. recorded a record high of more than 180,000 new COVID-19 cases, as experts warned that the country could be entering its worst phase of the pandemic yet.

Rob Cortis, a business consultant from Detroit, said he believed there was widespread election fraud in the presidential election and that conservative voices are being censored on social media and in public life. A report released last year by a former GOP senator and law firm did not suggest any evidence of anti-conservative bias. And right-leaning media outlets and Republican supporters dominated online forums around the most notable issues leading up to this year’s election, according to a Politico analysis of millions of social media posts, conservative social media accounts.

Social media companies had taken steps to quell the spread of voting misinformation, which may have also impacted the planning of Saturday’s rally and others across the country. Facebook and Evenbrite took down event pages promoting “Stop the Steal” content, and AirBnB said it cancelled a booking for an alleged white nationalist who had planned to attend D.C.’s rally.

Elsewhere on Saturday, a small group of school nurses protesting the city’s reopening plan in Ward 4 were met with police officers and threats of arrest, according to Ward 4 ANC Commissioner Evan Yeats.

While the largest crowds dissipated by early evening, numerous groups of Trump supporters and counter-demonstrators remained on the scene, which has grown increasingly chaotic.

A number of places downtown—including Black Lives Matter Plaza, the area outside the Capital Hilton, and K Street—have been the site of repeated confrontations. Police have used a variety of tactics to keep the groups separate, with videos showing officers pushing protesters back with bicycles, deploying chemical irritants, and clearing the streets.

At one point, a large group of counterprotesters yelled at diners, one of whom was wearing a Make America Great Again sweatshirt, eating outside of P.J. Clarke’s before a firecracker was set off in their direction, as captured by NBC Washington’s Shomari Stone.

And in a reprisal of the morning’s events, a group of Proud Boys once again marched through the streets of downtown. They were accompanied by a group of riot police on bikes, the Washington Post’s Marissa Lang reports. There have been numerous reports of clashes in the streets.