Protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend his country’s refugee program and erupted across the world on Saturday, including a large demonstration near the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto.

“We have thousands of people gathered today against Islamophobia, white supremacy and deportations, in mourning about the deaths in Quebec City, and in opposition to Islamophobic and racist laws here in Canada and the United States,” Syed Hussan, an organiser with grassroots activist organization , told CP24 on Saturday afternoon.

“This tragedy in Quebec City shows that there is Islamophobia and racism here,” Hussan said. “We need to uproot it here, starting at the federal level in policy, but also in our communities, in challenging Islamophobia and racism -- wherever we see it, we need to shut it down.”

Hundreds of protestors shut down parts of University Ave. as they marched to the nearby Federal Court of Canada.

“We want to connect what’s happening in the United States to… federal immigration laws,” Hussan said.

The was held concurrently with similar demonstrations in 13 other Canadian cities, such as Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, as well as in international cities like Jakarta, and Paris.

Walied Khogali is a community activist and one of the organizers of Saturday’s protest in Toronto.

“What happened in the United States will happen here in Canada,” Khogali told CTV Your Morning on Tuesday. “There is anti-immigrant sentiment out there.”

While Trump’s policies and the tragedy in Quebec City have sparked public outcry, Khogali says that they point to deeper societal issues.

“It’s important that we come together in moments of crisis, but we continue the work against Islamophobia in the long-term,” he said. “I suspect that there might be tragedies in the future, and we need to make sure we do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.”

The U.S. travel and refugee bans were temporarily in a move that Trump derided on Twitter as "ridiculous."

With files from CP24