A young boy holds a "Bashar al-Assad is Peace" sign at the April 17 counter-rally in Los Angeles (Photo Credit Mary Slosson)

Fifty protesters rallied in solidarity with Syria's opposition movement on Saturday, taking to the streets of Los Angeles to voice their discontent with dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

Gathered in front of the Federal Building in West Los Angeles, the activists were soon joined by another fifty protesters -- but these ones held signs declaring that "Bashar al-Assad is Peace."  Their numbers grew, and soon the counter-protest outnumbered the original rally.

"Some of their group are paid informants by the government," said Mazen Almoukdad, one of the anti-Assad activists.  He recognized one man named Read, he said, who had "spent a few years with secret police and openly represents the [Syrian] government."

The two groups largely stayed apart and chanted in Arabic and English as cars passed on Wilshire Blvd.  Volunteers passed out water bottles on the anti-Assad side to beat the heat of the day.

At one point, the pro-Assad group moved adjacent to the anti-Assad protesters, and a shouting match began.  Around a dozen police officers stepped in to separate the groups, pushing protesters back and confiscating some Syrian flags and posters.

A police helicopter hovered overhead during the heat of the confrontation.  The supporters of Assad dispersed shortly thereafter.

"We have freedom.  Nobody can do anything bad against any person in my country," said Abu Lawrence, a Syrian who has been in the U.S. six years and watched both sides from afar, hidden behind sunglasses.  "If you read something about Syria, you know Syria is the fairest country in all Middle East."

Faraja Issa joined Lawrence on the sidelines, but had been among the pro-Assad members for the majority of the hot afternoon.

Those are the Muslim Brotherhood," Issa said, gesturing towards the other side.  "They want to take Syria back, they want to do just like they did in Afghanistan."

In the past, if one million people had protested in the streets in Syria, "they would put all the million people in prison," said Almoukdad.  "So finally we got fed up.  Just like the Egyptian people, we got fed up.  It took longer than the Egyptians even though things were way more drastic in Syria than in Egypt and Tunisia."

Syrians from Damascus to Los Angeles are demanding that Assad not only fulfill his promise to end emergency rule this week, but also step down from power completely.

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Reach Executive Producer Mary Slosson here.  Follow her on Twitter @maryslosson.