City police patrolled a downtown Toronto street on Saturday to keep the peace between pro-Israel and pro-Lebanon rallies.

Organizers with the Canadian Arab Federation said they had drawn 8,000 people to their rally, which made stops at the Israeli and American consulates. Police were not able to immediately confirm that figure.

A small group of pro-Israeli demontrators is ringed by police while thousands of anti-war protesters gathered outside the Israeli consulate in Toronto.
(Derek Oliver/Canadian Press)

Many in the crowd on University Avenue condemned Prime Minister Stephen Harper for what they said was undue support for Israeli reprisals against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.

Others said they were not optimistic that a resolution passed by the UN Security Council on Friday would actually end the month-long conflict.

"I'm not convinced it really offers a hope for peace," one protester said. "I think the resolution unfairly rewards Israel for its aggression against Lebanon."

On the other side of the street, demonstrators supporting Israel gathered.

"Those across the street promote terrorist organizations," Steve Samuel, draped in an Israeli flag, told the Canadian Press. "The truth is that if tomorrow all the Arab states put down their weapons, there would be no more war. If tomorrow Israel put down all its weapons, there would be no more Israel."

Police officials criticized the pro-Israel demonstrators for staging a march without a permit.

"We were in negotiation with them yesterday and they told us they were not going to show up," Insp. Don Campbell told CP. "To have a lawful demonstration you have to have a permit from the city, and they have failed to do that. It's probably not the best thing for them to do to show up at this type of a rally."

There were no incidents of violence at the demonstration.

Similar demonstrations were staged across Canada and around the world on Saturday.

With files from the Canadian Press