Backers of President Donald Trump ramped up demonstrations on Thursday night against an election they believe was rigged or being stolen, clashing with counter-protesters as vote counting continued in battleground states.
In Arizona, one of five US battleground states where votes were still being counted in the too-close-to-call race between Mr Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Trump supporters massed outside the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix.
Some briefly chased a man who held up a sign depicting the president as a Nazi pig behind a stage where right-wing talk-radio host Alex Jones was speaking.
Police intervened and broke up the altercation after the man and his small group of counter-demonstrators were surrounded by Trump activists. There were no reports of injuries.
"They are trying to steal the election but America knows what happened and it’s fighting back," Mr Jones told the throng of some 300 people.
"1776 is the answer to 1984," he said, an apparent reference to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the dystopian George Orwell novel.
Protests have been scattered, small and largely peaceful since Americans went to the polls on Tuesday.
Facebook said it had taken down a rapidly growing group the social media site said pro-Trump activists had posted with violent rhetoric calling for "boots on the ground" to protect the integrity of the election.
Biden supporters have adopted the slogan "count every vote," saying a complete and accurate tabulation in the remaining battleground states would show the former vice president had won the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
Trump has said repeatedly without evidence that mail-in votes are prone to fraud, although election experts say that is rare in US elections.
