TORONTO — Quiet yoga in a normally busy park and no lines at a popular burrito joint were among the unusual scenes Friday as downtown Toronto turned into a ghost town ahead of the G20 summit.

With financial workers and civil servants temporarily working in offices outside the downtown core, public transit vehicles carrying one or two passengers sped through the streets.

Residents were so awestruck by the virtual emptiness that they pulled out cameras, snapping photos while standing in the middle of some of the busiest roads in Canada.

Others jaywalked at Yonge and Dundas, an intersection often so crowded that the city installed special pedestrian control traffic lights.

Cars zipped along the Don Valley Parkway, a major north-south highway so notoriously slow that locals have jokingly dubbed it "the Don Valley parking lot."

In the downtown core, groups of police officers stood on almost every corner, and greatly outnumbered the few dozen people who walked or drove in the heart of Canada's most populous city. It's arguably the largest police presence many residents have ever seen.

Unusual sights included a helicopter circling over a dog park, and people walking their pooches who dropped everything to watch three police officers roar up a hill on ATVs.

As many closed businesses boarded up windows in fear they would be smashed by protesters, others looking to cash in defiantly displayed signs saying they will be open for business during the summit.

Customers craving guacamole took advantage of a near-deserted burrito restaurant that normally has a line going out the door.

Artisans at a crafts market however, lamented the lack of walk-in business.

John Ochola, who sells African carvings, said that on any other day, he would have already made a sale by 11 a.m. On Friday, only one customer had checked out his booth by then.

"Today, it seems as if very few people have come, and that means that the G20 has really affected us," he said.

With Toronto residents staying away from downtown in fear of encountering violent protests, it was so quiet that about 30 yoga lovers took the opportunity to stretch in a park normally full of bankers over the lunch hour.

Instructor J.P. Tamblyn said he chose the location because it's across the street from the summit security fence.

"We wanted to be as close as we could to the security perimeter so that if there was aggression we could represent the other side of demonstration, which is more peaceful," he said.

"It's like a ghost town down here, there's hardly anything going on. At least half the people in this park are police," he added.

But not everyone wanted to take advantage of the city's less-crowded-than-usual status.

The busy coach bus terminal was a contrast to the barren streets, as dozens of people hopped on buses to get out of town.

Resident Mark Makivirta was on his way to New York City, saying he felt safer spending the G20 weekend in the Big Apple than in Toronto.

"People are happy to be as far away from (the G20) as possible just in case there's some trouble," he said.

"This is probably the safest weekend to go to New York City because if anything's going to happen anywhere, those type of people are going to be coming to Toronto," he added.