Toronto police officers were on the scene of a controversial event that has sparked tensions between the city's public library and the LGTBQ community.
The Toronto Public Library has come under intense fire in recent weeks for agreeing to host an event featuring freelance writer Meghan Murphy.
The self-described feminist, who is opposed to rights for transgender people, gave a talk on gender identity hosted by a grouped dubbed Radical Feminists Unite.
LGBTQ community members and their allies say publicly funded spaces shouldn't be used as a platform for hatred, and came out in big numbers Tuesday night to protest.
But the library has maintained that it has a duty to uphold principles of free speech and is allowing the talk to proceed.
Inside the event attended by about 110 paying patrons, Murphy tried to clarifiy her view of the transgender community.
"I've never said that trans women are not real women. What I have said is that trans identified males are male. And this is because they are and this is not an insult or a judgement. This is just a material reality, a biological reality. If you're born a male, you remain male for life."
Earlier, Toronto police Const. Victor Kwong said officers would be inside and outside the event tonight in order to “keep the peace.”
As the event let out, the protesters began shouting and screaming at some of the people who attended the event.
One supporter of the rally told our media partner CP24, that allowing Murphy to speak at the library was a threat to personal security.
"For a lot of us the library is a safe place to go, but by allowing hate speech in the public library, it kind of becomes less safe for you to be there."
There were no reports of any incidents or arrests as a result of the protests.
with files from Newstalk 1010