The sound of loud chants echoed off the old homes in the Bloor Street and Christie area on Monday night.

The cry was "Stop Rape Now!"

As families got their kids ready to go back to school on Tuesday morning, many stopped to look out the window at the commotion happening in the narrow streets.

Hundreds of people, many of them neighbourhood residents, were marching in a symbolic effort to take back their streets in the wake of a string of sex assaults in the Annex area.

"People want to have a space to kind of voice their concerns and speak out against what's happening," says demonstration organiser Farah Khan.

Khan says the violence in the Annex is part of a much larger issue.

"As a woman, I constantly experience sexual violence through street harassment and I experience people sexualizing me so when people talk about being safe, I think we need to talk about how we are experiencing this as a community," she says.

People started to gather in Christie Pits Park around 7:00pm.

After several speeches, including one from local City councilor Mike Layton, the gathering marched through the neighbourhood for 2 hours.

The boisterous demonstration was led by marchers with megaphones, who shouted chants and slogans.

Police officers on bicycle and in cruisers escorted the march, closing off intersections as it made its way down Christie Street and into Little Italy, where the sight turned heads on cafe patios.

Toronto Police say 10 women have come forward to report sex attacks in the Bloor-Christie area since July.

Detectives believe the same man is behind the attacks but no arrests have been made.

The suspect is described as black man, between 17 and 35-years old.  He is roughly 6-feet tall and has a stocky build.

Authorities have said solving the case is a top priority and that extra patrols are being made in the neighbourhood, both by police officers in uniform and regular clothes.