About 1,000 people attended a rally Sunday at the Colorado Springs City Hall to show solidarity with protesters who opposed white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12.

While they came with common cause, they didn’t always find common ground.

Speakers called for unity, love and peace in the effort to keep violence and hate crimes out of Colorado Springs. But a group of anti-fascist activists, known as Antifa, called for stronger, less nonviolent measures.

One of the Antifa demonstrators, many of whom were dressed in black, their heads and faces covered by hoods and gas masks, held up a sign reading, “Silence is violence Punching Nazis is self-defense.”

In the days leading up to the Solidarity with Charlottesville: Not in Our Town! rally, organizers had feared that white nationalists might harass people. Police had said they planned to monitor the rally to ensure that there were no clashes like there were in Charlottesville during the Unite the Right rally that drew hundreds of white supremacists to the Virginia college town.

Nearly three dozen people were injured in the street battles between white supremacists carrying Nazi flags and counterprotesters over two days. A 32-year-old woman marching with counterprotesters was killed when a reputed neo-Nazi allegedly drove his car into a crowd.

President Donald Trump has been denounced for saying the white supremacists and those opposing them shared the blame for what happened in Charlottesville.

Police said there were no reports of violence at Sunday’s rally, and the fears that white nationalists would show up apparently were unfounded. Ryan Barry, of Unite Colorado Springs, one of the groups which organized Sunday’s rally, said people wearing clothing displaying swastikas had attended past rallies opposing Trump’s policies.

On Sunday, one man held up a sign that read “Hate = Alt-Left + Media Bias Hacks.” He left early in the rally.

At times, though, the rally was tense, as Antifa activists argued with others over whether violence should be met with violence.

In the midst of it, a woman grabbed the microphone and demanded protesters stop shouting each other down.

“You can’t do it this way,” she said. “It’s killing our country.”

Sherri Smith and two Iraq War veterans – carrying handguns and semiautomatic assault-style rifles – watched over the crowd. “We’re here to protect these people,” she said before cutting the interview short.

Others at the rally said they came to support those who opposed the Nazi and white nationalist rally in Charlottesville and spread the message of love and unity.

“Our whole family is made up of all kinds of people, all kinds of color,” said Colorado Springs resident Jennifer Hickman, who attended Sunday’s rally with her wife, Maggie Abrams. “We believe we can all get along.”

Todd Anderson brought his son and daughter to the rally with signs calling racists “cowards.” He said he wanted his children to learn early in life that hatred shouldn’t be tolerated.

“It’s not right to be a racist,” said his 12-year-old son, Owen. “It’s not right to hate someone because they’re different, because of the color of their skin and their sexuality.”

The rally Sunday followed a brief pro-Trump demonstration Saturday in downtown Colorado Springs. About 15-20 people marched up and down North Tejon Street from Acacia Park chanting and carrying American flags and Trump and Blue Lives Matter banners.