Fans Holding A "Refugees Welcome" Banner Were Booted From A Vancouver Whitecaps Game

    The Whitecaps say it was "inappropriate behaviour and fan misconduct."

    Ishmael N. Daro
    by Ishmael N. Daro

    BuzzFeed Social News Editor, Canada

    A group of soccer fans were kicked out of a Vancouver Whitecaps game after displaying a pro-refugee banner in the stands.

    The Georgia Straight / Via youtube.com

    The demonstrators were all members of a local soccer team, which has the amazing name Left Wingers FC. The teammates held up a banner during Saturday's Vancouver-New York match that read "Refugees Welcome."

    Security at BC Place kicked them out and confiscated the banner.

    View this video on YouTube
    The Georgia Straight / Via youtube.com

    In a video uploaded by The Georgia Straight, the demonstrators were given several different and conflicting reasons for why they couldn't display the banner. Police and security officers said the demonstrators were "creating a spectacle," that the game was "not where you be political," and that the banner was too big.

    The Vancouver Whitecaps later said the political message of the banner had nothing to do with the Refugees Welcome demonstrators being kicked out of the stadium.

    Bob Frid / Vancouver Whitecaps / Via Facebook: whitecapsfc

    "We appreciate the sentiment and good intentions behind this banner. It is not about whether we agree or disagree with the content of a banner, but whether our matches are the appropriate venue for such expression," the MLS team said in a statement to BuzzFeed Canada.

    According to the team's guidelines, fans can bring signs, flags, and banners that "exhibit their support for the club," but all other messaging must be approved by the Whitecaps front office before being brought into the stadium.

    "The ejection of the three guests was due to inappropriate behaviour and fan misconduct and was not related to the banner," the team said.

    The banner was later returned to them.

    The fans who brought the banner to the game were inspired by similar actions at soccer games elsewhere in MLS and in Europe.

    Alvaro Barrientos / AP

    Sozan Savehilaghi, a member of No One is Illegal-Vancouver Coast Salish Territories and a former refugee herself, told BuzzFeed Canada the demonstrators were "shaken up" by their experience.

    "This is something that is close to their hearts and they just wanted to show some solidarity with refugees, especially because the Canadian government's refugee policy is pretty abysmal," she said.

    Since the refugee crisis burst into public consciousness this summer, dozens of Canadian cities have formed groups to support increased refugee resettlement for people fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries.

    Ian L. Winter / NoOneIsIllegalNetwork / Via Facebook: NoOneIsIllegalNetwork

    The movement is composed of local grassroots groups, and it has adopted Refugees Welcome as an umbrella name.

    There have been rallies and other events in cities across Canada, and the refugee issue dominated the early weeks of the Canadian federal election. All the federal parties say they want to do more to help refugees, but with different commitments in terms of how many to resettle in Canada and how quickly to process their applications.