Protester punches white supremacist leader in the face mid-interview
A leader of the alt-right movement took a right hook right to the face while he was being interviewed about the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Richard Spencer was being interviewed on camera on the street in Washington DC when someone ran in from out of nowhere and socked him in the face.
Although he denies being a racist, Spencer made headlines recently when he was filmed along with dozens of alt-right Trump supporters shouting "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory" while making the Nazi salute in the wake of the Republican candidate's electoral victory.
Spencer also runs the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist group which describes itself as an "independent organisation dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world".
As he stood in the DC street, a woman asked Spencer if he "liked black people", to which he replied "Yeah, sure".
He then denied he was neo-Nazi before suggesting neo-Nazis did not like him.
Spencer was about to explain why he was wearing a Pepe lapel pin, saying "it's become kind of a symbol" before the protester's punch cut him off.
The short scuffle was only a one example of the ugliness that broke out on the streets of the US capital where shops have been trashed and cars torched.
Washington DC Police confirmed there have been 217 people arrested, many having travelled to the capital.
Police moved on protesters as rocks and bottles were launched at officers during rioting only blocks from the White House.
Armoured police stood with shields in a phalanx as explosions from flash grenades echoed through streets and pepper spray crept among marchers and buildings.
Rioters smashed the windows on several shops, including Starbucks Coffee and the Bank of America.
Police and protesters were moving along and around K Street, home to many top lobbyists' offices.
The clashes broke out only streets away from the parade route the newly minted president is expected to take shortly.
Many of the protesters mobilised to block Trump supporters from making their way to the National Mall where the president would be making his way from the Capitol building to the White House.
In the National Mall only blocks away from the riots, tens of thousands of Trump supporters have turned out to honour their new president.
The turnout in the mall is somewhat less than it was eight years ago when Barack Obama took office.
Despite freezing temperatures, the sun was shining in January 2009 when 1.8 million people flocked to the streets of the capital to celebrate the swearing in of America's first African-American president.
Today there are grey skies above the capital while an intermittent drizzle fills the air.
Around 900,000 people have flocked to the mall where Trump is expected to walk following the Congressional lunch at Capitol Hill.
