Michigan elected officials and community leaders are making their voices heard in Dearborn after anti-Islam protesters and counter-protesters clashed along Michigan Avenue earlier this week.

Leaders, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, held a press conference on Friday, calling for unity.

"Dearborn's future will not be written by outsiders with torches of fear; it will be written by the people of this city," Hammoud said at the press conference.

Tlaib said, "Our neighbors we know do not deserve the kind of violent and hateful rhetoric we witnessed on Tuesday."

The dueling demonstrations on Tuesday stemmed from Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson falsely claiming that there was Sharia Law in Dearborn. Hudson later walked back those statements.

Other people in the crowd included Jake Lang, a Republican who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida. CBS News Detroit was at the scene when Lang threatened to burn a Quran and taunted counterdemonstrators with bacon. Our crews also captured screaming matches, along with pushing and shoving between the two sides.

"Our hearts are broken being victims of that much ignorance and animosity and hatred," Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, leader of the Islamic House of Wisdom, told CBS Detroit.  

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said on Friday that the actions by those who came to Dearborn will not create any more fear or hate. 

"The attempts to disrupt and create violence or worsen this community did not succeed this week. Instead, thanks to these great local leaders and so many others, instead they brought us together," said Benson.

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II said the protests were part of a larger issue of political violence and that showing unity is more important than ever. 

"This city is full of friendly and decent people who want to live their lives not as targets but as human beings," said Gilchrist.