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Protesters have rallied across the United States to denounce sharia law, the Islamic legal and moral code they claim poses a threat to American freedoms, but critics believe anti-Muslim hatred is behind the condemnation.
ACT for America, a self-described grassroots organisation, staged "March against Sharia" rallies in New York, Chicago, Boston, Denver and Seattle, as well as many smaller cities.
On the steps of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, barricades and a heavy police presence, including officers mounted on horses, separated about 60 anti-sharia demonstrators from an equal number of counter-protesters.
Many of the latter were dressed in black masks and hoods and chanting: "No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA."
The atmosphere was tense but the protest went off with no violence and only one arrest, police said.
More than a dozen men belonging to the anti-government Oath Keepers were on hand, invited by ACT to provide security. Most of them carried handguns.
Chris Achey, 47, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, said he did not hate Muslims but believes that much of Islam is incompatible with Western culture.
"The constitution is the law of the land," Mr Achey said.
"We have to be careful with who we let in the country."
On its website, ACT described sharia, which covers many aspects of Muslim life including religious obligations and financial dealings, as incompatible with human rights.
It said sharia justified the oppression of women and homosexuality, and advocated female genital mutilation.
But critics have said the organisation vilifies Muslims and has repeatedly equated Islam with extremism.
In their view, the rallies were part of a wave of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by US President Donald Trump, who called for a ban on Muslims entering the country during his election campaign.
Molly Freiburg, 33, of Philadelphia, was one of the counter-protesters but not part of the larger group clad in black.
"America is not in danger from sharia law," Ms Freiburg said.
"This manifestation at the Capitol is actually a way to make our Muslim neighbours feel uncomfortable."
A representative for ACT for America could not be reached for comment.
In Seattle, about 75 anti-sharia protesters were outnumbered by counter-protesters at a rally that was moved from Portland, Oregon.
Tensions are running high in Portland after a man yelling religious and racial slurs at two teenage girls on a commuter train fatally stabbed two men who tried to stop him.
Talbot Sleater, a 62-year-old construction foreman, said that the Seattle protest was the first of the kind that he had attended.
A Briton who moved to the United States, Mr Sleater said he had decided to go after recent attacks in his home country.
"People are being run over in the street with trucks and little kids are being blown up," he said, referring to recent attacks in London and Manchester.
"I don't want that to happen here."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country's largest Muslim advocacy group, urged Americans to participate in one of several local educational events being organised in "a peaceful challenge to Saturday's hate rallies".
It also warned Muslims to take extra precautions against potential violence over the weekend.
Anti-Muslim incidents rose 57 per cent last year, including a 44 per cent jump in anti-Islamic hate crimes, CAIR said in a report released in early May.
Reuters
Topics: islam, world-politics, government-and-politics, united-states
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