Protesters released balloons with a message against city budget cuts as hundreds of Mayor Rob Ford supporters lined up for a meet-and-greet at the New Year's levee on Monday.
The levee is an annual tradition that gives Torontonians the chance to meet personally with elected officials.
"I love our city of Toronto and I want to thank the city for being so great," one woman told CTV Toronto.
Another said that she lined up with her family to wish the mayor a happy New Year.
About 200 had lined up to see the mayor and shake his hand at 2 p.m. Many of them were Rob Ford supporters.
"The only thing I'll say to him is keep doing what you're doing," one man said. "I'm satisfied for the most part."
However, security was on high alert at the levee as a couple of protesters were escorted out of the event while they yelled, "Stop the cuts."
"They're blindly passing through with all of these cuts and so we're here to tell them that we're not going to stand for that," Victoria Barnett from Toronto Stop the Cuts Network told CTV Toronto.
The city broke tradition by holding the levee, which ended at 4 p.m., on Jan. 2 instead of New Year's Day.
Protesters say that they are planning a rally on Jan. 17 against the ongoing budget negotiations.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson
