Sir Peter Soulsby has said he was pleased 'the good people of Leicester' challenged Britain First activists who campaigned in the city centre at the weekend.
The police have said members of the far right party were escorted back to their vehicles to assure their safety after a confrontation at the city's Clock Tower on Saturday.
Britain First leader Paul Golding and around a dozen supporters were campaigning in the city for the UK to leave the European Union when they came face to face with a large crowd of people chanting 'Racists not welcome here'.
Britain First turned out in one of the UK's most diverse cities and were escorted away with a heavy police presence.https://t.co/QUb4XGwvvJ
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) May 22, 2016
Police officers attended the scene to prevent a breach of the peace and said it was 'low key'.
However video footage, posted online, has shown angry exchanges between the Britain First members and crowd of people, including socialists and anti-fascist campaigners.
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Labour mayor Sir Peter said: "I understand it passed off very quickly and a number of good Leicester people made it very clear to them that these were not the attitudes we wanted to see in our city.
"Britain First is a splinter group of the collapsed EDL and their racism is not welcome here. I think that message is being made very clearly.
"I am pleased the incident passed off without violence."
Posting on Facebook, Britain First has accused the police of harassing its members and dismissed the widespread opposition to their presence as "smelly left wing trash."
The group has claimed it was well received in the city centre and that its campaigning was not disrupted.
A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said: "We did have officers there to prevent a breach of the peace and there was no breach of the peace.
"All of the groups had dispersed by 4pm. There were no arrests.
"We offered to escort them (Britain First) to their vehicles."We wanted to assure their safety."
