 "Manchester United, Liverpool fans claim they were evicted from stadiums for displaying Palestine flag")
Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, fans of English football clubs Manchester United and Liverpool have claimed they were evicted from stadiums for displaying flags and symbols to express solidarity with Palestine. In a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, a Man United fan named Laher said, “15 years I’ve been a season ticket holder at this club, and today they assaulted us and threw us out for displaying a Palestinian flag peacefully for 30 seconds at half time.”
The incident took place at the Old Trafford stadium during a match between Manchester United and Manchester City. The Man United fan added, “In the last 2 weeks alone I have seen Greece, Armenia, Cyprus flags in S21 with no action, yet a (Palestinian) flag is apparently an issue.” Laher also shared an image of the prohibited items that are mentioned at the club’s official website. He wrote, “No mention of country flags being prohibited. Does that mean they consider Palestine ‘offensive’? Talk about what side of history the club stands on.”
In a similar incident, a Liverpool fan was escorted out of the Anfield stadium for allegedly wearing a ‘Free Palestine Hoodie.’ “Last night the club that I’ve adored since I was 5 has broken me, everything I thought we stood for felt like a farce so much for YNWA and freedom of speech, I travel up 3 hours every home game even when I can’t get a ticket just to be in the city for game,” said the Liverpool fan, whose X handle is lfcrazz.
He added, “I found it really odd our fans were allowed to stand with Ukraine and bring those flags in, as well as club itself selling LFC X Ukraine merchandise in the club shop but when I held up a Palestine flag during YNWA a bunch of stewards rushed me like I had a weapon on me.” Manchester United and Liverpool didn’t communicate to the fans that the Palestinian flag can’t be shown at the matches. Interestingly, some Tottenham Hotspur FC (Spurs) fans in a recent match against Fulham were seen waving the Israeli flags.
Spurs had earlier urged the fans to not bring any flag or banner in support of Israel or Palestine during the match.