TORONTO — Pro-Palestinian protesters and a significant endorsement of her rival for the Liberal Party leadership marred former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s campaign launch on Sunday for the job of Canada’s next prime minister.

It was Freeland’s abrupt resignation as finance minister last month that forced Justin Trudeau’s exit as prime minister and party leader. Freeland is now running for both the next leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada.

But as Freeland started her speech at a children’s club in Toronto on Sunday, about a dozen protesters who were in the audience would start yelling, at different times: “Free Palestine!”

After security guards kicked each protester out, another would repeat the process. Those outside banged on the doors and kept shouting. The disruptions stretched Freeland’s speech to about two hours. The protesters released a statement saying they were staging a “rolling protest” to “demand an end to Canada’s complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”

— The Associated Press