NEW YORK (AP) — A small park built on a site that was once a swampy, sewage-filled pond was ground zero for the frenzy surrounding former President Donald Trump’s expected surrender Tuesday at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

Hundreds of onlookers, protesters, journalists and a few attention-seeking politicians swarmed into the confines of Collect Pond Park, which sits across the street from the criminal courthouse where Trump was to be arraigned.

The crowd was small, by the standards of New York City protests, which routinely draw thousands. And fears that unruly mobs might force police to shut down swaths of the city proved to be unfounded, with security measures mostly disappearing within a couple of blocks.

But within the park and the surrounding sidewalks, there was plenty of chaos.

Metal barricades separated Trump supporters from anti-Trump protesters, and police stepped in to break up small skirmishes. Journalists, some of whom had taken turns waiting in line all night to reserve a coveted seat in the courtroom, pressed in on notable figures who appeared.

Whistles and jeers from anti-Trump protesters nearly drowned out remarks by US Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, who had come to support Trump. But she drew cheers from the pro-Trump contingent before making a fast exit as journalists jostled for position around her.

Also on hand to support Trump was US Republican George Santos, the besieged Republican congressman facing multiple investigations into lies about his biography that he told while running for office.

“I’m not here for the cameras,” he insisted to reporters. “I want to support the president, just because I think this is unprecedented, and it’s a bad day for democracy.”

The crowds grew larger as the hour drew closer to Trump’s arrival at the courthouse to become the first president in US history to face criminal charges.

New York police had said they were ready for large protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury indictment and three additional pending investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken his bid to retake the White House in 2024.

A few hundred did show up to support Trump on Tuesday, waving Trump flags and wearing “Make America Great Again” hats.

But security was loose enough in the neighbourhood that plenty of passers-by walked through the park just to see what was going on.