Protesters turn out in San Francisco despite cancelled rally

(Reuters) - Hundreds of counter-protesters gathered near a barricaded San Francisco park Saturday despite the cancellation of a free-speech rally that city leaders feared could draw right-wing extremists.

The planned gathering by Patriot Prayer had been the centrepiece of a weekend of protests in the Bay Area that had raised concern among police and elected officials two weeks after right-wing activists, including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, fought with anti-racism protesters in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia.