French President Emmanuel Macron backed anti-racism activists in the United States on Thursday in a message that avoided criticising US President Donald Trump over his reaction to violence in Charlottesville.

“On the side of those who combat racism and xenophobia. Our common fight, yesterday and today. #Charlottesville,” he wrote on Twitter.

Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday that Trump had made “a huge mistake” by failing to clearly condemn a white supremacist, neo-Nazi and “alt-right” rally in Charlottesville.

Chaos erupted in Charlottesville on Saturday around what is believed to be the largest group of white supremacists to come together in a decade including neo-Nazis, skinheads, members of the Ku Klux Klan who descended on the city to "take America back" by rallying against plans to remove a Confederate statue of Gen Robert E. Lee in the city's Emancipation Park.

Hundreds came to protest against the racism. Peaceful protesters were marching downtown, carrying signs that read "black lives matter" and "love".

One counter-protester was killed when a suspected Nazi sympathiser drove a car into a crowd.