UPDATED 7pm

A state of emergency remains in place in the US state of Virginia, after mass brawls between white supremacists and anti-fascist protesters.

Two members of the state patrol were killed when their helicopter crashed en route to the anti-right rally in Charlottesville.

A man has been charged with second degree murder, after a car was ploughed into counter-protesters and a 32-year-old was killed.

The crowds have dispersed, there are curfews in place and a vigil has been held for the people who were killed.

Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe has told the white supremacists they aren't welcome in the state, and should go home.

A 20-year-old man has been arrested in the US state of Virginia, accused of driving his car into a crowd of protesters and killing a woman.

Police in Charlottesville said they had arrested James Alex Fields over the death of a 32-year-old woman who was demonstrating against white nationalists who were protesting plans to remove the statue of a Confederate general on Saturday.

Police say his car ploughed into a crowd of people peacefully protesting against the white nationalist rally, killing the woman and injuring at least two dozen others.

Virginia state police also said one of their agency's helicopters crashed Saturday outside Charlottesville, killing two troopers.

Police said the helicopter was helping law enforcement officers monitor the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

Police said Lieutenant H Jay Cullen of Midlothian and Trooper-Pilot Burke M.M. Bates of Quinton were killed in the crash.

The car attack occurred around 1pm, soon after a state of emergency was declared in the city for the clashes between participants in the march and those opposed to it.

The controversial "Unite the Right" march was organised to protest the removal of a statue honouring General Robert E Lee, commander of the Confederate Army in the 19th-century American Civil War.