WASHINGTON — Hours into Election Night, with polls closing nationwide and votes being tallied, protesters clashed outside of the White House and pockets of other unrest around the country have been reported.
Hundreds marched through streets in Raleigh, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon.
The Washington protest, despite a mostly peaceful atmosphere, had pockets of confrontation as the night wore on. Pushing and shoving between protesters could be seen, and police in the area sought to disperse the crowd, with smoke filling the air from an unidentified source.
CBS News reporter Christina Ruffini shared a video of what she called "some sort of smoke bomb" being used at the protest and said people were "just fighting."
Pushing and shoving at the scene was broken up quickly.
Other reports of confrontation surfaced Tuesday. A man wearing a shirt supporting incumbent President Donald Trump challenged a protester to a fight in a situation that was diffused by police, according to the New York Times.
The outlet also reported a man was hit with a bat after he shouted “all lives matter” and a protester who was chanting "Black lives matter." Bystanders broke up that confrontation, The New York Times reported.
A D.C. Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said so far, one arrest had been made as of just before 10 p.m. An adult male was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, crossing a police line and resisting arrest.
Shortly before midnight, dozens of black-clad protesters began marching west from Black Lives Matter Plaza, using megaphones to chant: “Black lives matter!” A handful of fireworks went off as they marched.
Bloomberg reported the protesters unfurled a large black banner with the words "Remove Trump" in white all-caps letters.
The Los Angeles Police Department early Tuesday announced a citywide tactical alert" to ensure sufficient resources to address any incidents that may arise as a result of Election Day activities." Shortly after 8 p.m. local time, the department announced it was dispersing a "large and unruly crowd."
In Chicago, one of the bridges near downtown’s Trump Tower had been lifted over the Chicago River—a common sight in recent months amid incidents of looting or unrest in the city. The move has been used to restrict access to downtown.
Video of the Illinois National Guard pulling into the city's downtown McCormick Place Convention Center circulated on social media Monday night, sparking concern among some. Tuesday morning, the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in a statement that the personnel were stationed in Chicago "to be ready to respond if needed" but that there were "no plans for them to be deployed."
Several protests were planned in neighborhoods throughout the city for Wednesday night.
In Graham, North Carolina, where police cracked down on a peaceful demonstration, another march took place Tuesday. This one, which included hundreds, concluded without response from police, according to the Burlington Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
About 200 protesters marched through the North Carolina capitol of Raleigh, WRAL-TV reported. The TV station added arrests were made after protesters threw fireworks and other items at police. The protest was declared unlawful and was broken up around 10 p.m., the outlet reported.
Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Portland, New York Times correspondent Mike Baker reported on Twitter.
Left-leaning demonstrators planned Election Day protests for weeks.
Some protesters are already gearing up for a longer, more sustained pushback. Organizers at ShutDownDC plan for more aggressive actions as the week goes on depending on the outcome of the election, such as if President Donald Trump were to win reelection or to question the election outcome.
Trump has said he would likely take legal action if he believes Tuesday's election is conducted unfairly, especially in battleground Pennsylvania.
Trump did deny a report in the news outlet Axios that he planned to declare victory if he is ahead in Pennsylvania and enough other states on Election Day, even if mail-in ballots were still being counted. But he also said it would be unfair for Pennsylvania and other states to count ballots after Tuesday, as they plan to do. At least five counties in Pennsylvania have announced they will not be counting absentee and mail-in ballots until the day after Election Day.
Expecting a drawn-out battle, ShutDownDC organizers have plans to "disrupt business as usual for some of the institutions that are most complicit in Trump’s attack on Democracy." And on Thursday, they plan to host a caravan of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.
Organizers of the Women’s March have called for people to hold demonstrations around the country on election night in which participants “shine a light on the process” by holding lanterns, flashlights, and candles, Vox reported.
In Philadelphia, which has seen multiple days of unrest over the police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., dozens of progressive organizations are planning “mass action" in the event of voter intimidation or mail-in ballot invalidation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
More than 520 events have been organized nationwide by Protect the Results on Nov. 4 and beyond if Trump either declares victory before all votes are counted or refuses to accept election results. Protect the Results is a coalition of more than 165 grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and labor unions led by activist groups Indivisible and Stand Up America.
Contributing: Chris Quintana,David Jackson, Grace Hauck, Courtney Subramanian and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY; Dean-Paul Stephens and Adam Smith, Times-News.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election Day protests in DC, Philly updates: BLM, Protect the Results