Toronto protesters march against Syrian regime

More than 300 people gathered in Toronto Saturday to protest the Syrian regime and ask the Canadian government to help the Syrian people.

As the violence in Syria continues one year after the uprising began, protesters hit the streets in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and around the world for the 'Global March for Syria.'

The event advertised on Facebook asked fellow protesters to "take a moment to remember the thousands of lives sacrificed since March 15, 2011."

Mustafa Arab, with the Canadian Syrian Council, spoke with CBC News from the protest about what the group wants to accomplish.

"We've been trying to raise awareness to let the international community know that we're standing by our own people in Syria against this [regime]," Arab said.

Arab said that the groups protesting want Canada to take a firm stand against the regime that the UN estimates has killed more than 8,000 in the past year.

"We've been asking the Canadian government for so long to engage with the international community and to lead the international community to protect the civilian[s] inside Syria and to expel the Syrian ambassador to Canada, because obviously this ambassador is representing the killer machine in Syria and we don't want to see them in Ottawa anymore."

The group met at City Hall shortly after 3 p.m. and planned to march west on Queen Street West, north on University Avenue and east on Dundas Street to Yonge and Dundas Square before heading south, back to City Hall.

The march occurs after twin car bombs struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus Saturday, killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 100, according to state media.