WASHINGTON — On the eve of conservative commentator Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial, a blogger's assertion that parts of the nation's capital should be avoided touched off accusations of racism and a sharp response by angry city leaders.

Thousands of conservative, tea party supporters were expected at the demonstration Saturday that Beck has called a " Restoring Honor" rally to show support of the country's military at the site where Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago to the day.

The location and timing prompted civil rights leaders to cry foul.

"They have a right to rally. But what they don't have the right do is distort what Dr. King's dream was about," the Rev. Al Sharpton declared Friday. He called the tea party assembly an anti-government action and has organized a counter rally also near the site of King's historic speech.

With emotions already high, the work of a largely unknown tea party blogger, Bruce Majors, brought them to a fever pitch on Friday.

The blog, which first appeared last Monday and has been widely viewed and distributed since then, warned conservative protesters visiting the nation's capital to avoid certain subway lines, suggesting they are unsafe, that certain neighborhoods should be avoided, that the city is populated by the world's refugees — that taxi drivers are often Arab or African — and that generally visitors should be wary.

And it inspired a satirical map of Washington with all of the city marked unsafe, except for the tiny sliver of the National Mall, home to the Lincoln Memorial. Some people mistakenly assumed the map was put out by Beck rally supporters.