Protesters demonstrated outside Commons Leader Jack Straw's advice surgery in Blackburn, Lancashire, on Saturday following his comments on Muslim veils.
About 60 people congregated at the town's Bangor Street Community Centre.
An earlier event scheduled was abandoned when police said they were unable to manage the more than 500 demonstrators anticipated.
Mr Straw sparked a row when he revealed he asks women wearing veils to his surgery to show their noses and mouths.
The former home secretary did not speak to the protesters as he arrived and later left the building.
Protesters' chants
As Mr Straw was outside his office, the small group of protesters, including several women wearing veils, chanted: "The veil is freedom. The veil is liberation. The veil is choice."
Mr Straw said: "I'm still surprised about the reaction to what I said but I welcome the debate it has provoked.
"Yesterday four ladies wearing veils visited me and they said 'You're absolutely right to ask the question for the veil to be removed'.
"Some gentlemen who came this morning also told me to 'Stick to your guns'."
At a press conference held in Blackburn Town Hall on Friday, Mr Straw said he stuck by his comments and had held two meetings with local councillors and representatives of the Lancashire Council of Mosques.
He also denied suggestions that his comments had fuelled divisions between Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
Mr Straw said: "I stand by my remarks and see no reason to apologise for them. This is a free and democratic country.
"But I am wholly opposed to any suggestion that the law should be changed, nor have I disputed the right for a Muslim woman to wear the hijab."
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