A week after violent clashes at a pro-Palestinian rally downtown, hundreds of demonstrators turned out Friday evening for a “beautiful, peaceful” protest outside City Hall.

Chanting and holding signs condemning the conflict in Gaza, about 600 Palestinian supporters gathered for two hours on the east side of Macleod Trail.

Young children hoisted signs that read, “Every kid should feel safe and have a home,” while other demonstrators waved the Palestinian flag.

The size of the protest proved that the recent conflict overseas has hit home with Calgarians, said rally organizer Saima Jamal.

“We’re not a typical protest city,” said Jamal. “So something has to really upset us for us to come and scream out like this.”

Jordanian-born Ziyad Shukri came to the rally to stand in solidarity with all the Palestinian people. He said the Canadian government needs to “wake up” and look at the conflict from “both sides.”

“Canada is a country that encourages peace and justice and human rights,” he said. “It’s unacceptable for the Conservative government to act this way.”

Across the street, about 75 pro-Israel demonstrators gathered to voice their own perspective on the conflict. Dozens of police officers lined both sides of the road, keeping protesters off Macleod Trail and preventing any potential clashes.

Police admitted earlier this week that they “dropped the ball” by not having a large enough presence at last Friday’s rally, when at least two people were allegedly assaulted. They were better prepared this week, said Duty Insp. Joel Matthews.

“We expected there would be some passion, and there was,” he said. “But organizers on both sides did an excellent job with their people, and everything went as expected.”

Jamal also apologized for the violence last week, but added that the clashes were “just five minutes of a three hour rally.”

“We have moved past that,” she said.

Though the protest remained peaceful, tensions often rose as the two groups chanted back and forth at each other. It’s not the best way to encourage dialogue, Jamal said, but it’s necessary.

“We have to give them peaceful means of expressing their anger,” said Jamal. “If they just do that through chants, then let that be it.”

“We hope that in the future, the pro-Israeli side would actually hold hands with us and come together and stop the bombing together,” she said. “We do want to work with them and we want them to show to Calgary that we are not disunited when it comes to stopping a war.”

“I’m sure they have the same intentions as us,” Jamal added. “If the intentions are the same, why aren’t we working together?”

Jewish and Muslim leaders met Thursday in a Calgary synagogue in an attempt to cool tensions and avoid similar clashes in the future. The leaders, including Imam Syed Soharwardy and Rabbi Shaul Osadchey, issued a joint statement condemning the violence and supporting the right to free expression.

The leaders said they will establish a Jewish-Muslim working group that will meet frequently to strengthen their relationship, each side inviting the other to speak at their respective places of worship.

“We recognize the fact that international events and tragedies do affect us and that people are very passionate and sensitive about their causes,” the joint statement says. “They have the right to protest and lobby for their causes but these protests and rallies must be peaceful and law-abiding. We will never allow anyone to disturb the peace of our city.”