Mayor denounces racist rally planned outside Vancouver City Hall

Racial tensions rising in Metro Vancouver From a confederate flag controversy in Burnaby to Nazi flyers distributed in Vancouver, there are signs of growing racial tensions on B.C.’

Vancouver officials are speaking out against a rally of right-wing extremists planned for Saturday afternoon, one week after the deadly violence that erupted in Charlottesville, VA.

The gathering, organized by World Coalition Against Islam Canada and the anti-immigration Cultural Action Party of Canada, is being held outside City Hall and members of the Soldiers of Odin are expected to attend, according to its Facebook event page. Few other details have been made public.

While there's little authorities can do to prevent the rally from happening, Mayor Gregor Robertson denounced the event Tuesday and voiced his support for a planned counter-protest.

"I think it's really important that people speak out at every opportunity against racism and hatred. I know there will be a vigorous turnout of people protesting the white supremacist rally," Robertson said.

"They have the right to demonstrate but hatred and racism have no place in this city and I expect people to confront that."

Robertson said he believes the counter-protesters, who are likely to outnumber the extremists by a wide margin, will be peaceful.

As of Wednesday afternoon, only 18 people had signed up for the right-wing gathering on Facebook, while more than 1,600 had RSVP'd to the "Oppose the Racists in Metro Vancouver" counter-protest.

The Vancouver Police Department confirmed it is preparing for Saturday's dueling events, but could not provide details on how officers will be keeping the peace.

"It's still unfolding. It's a very fluid situation, so intelligence is coming in," Sgt. Jason Robillard said. "We do like to be prepared and we are making preparations."

Police always do their best to facilitate expressions of free speech, Robillard added, but public safety is the department's top priority.

Concerns over the event are heightened in the wake of the fatal "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, which was reportedly organized by neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. A car plowed into a group of counter-protesters on Saturday, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others, in what police have since deemed a planned attack.

Though WCAI Canada and the Cultural Action Party do not broadcast Nazi or white power symbols, their members and founders have shared very troubling views on social media.

One of the administrators of the WCAI Facebook group, who goes by Jesse Canada, posted a picture of the Charlottesville white supremacists days after Heyer's murder on his personal page, which is littered with messages like “Country and race is what matters” and “EUROPEAN HERITAGE WILL BE SAVED WE WILL DIE TRYING RATHER THEN (sic) BE A SLAVE TO SEWAGE.”

The Soldiers of Odin bills itself as a community outreach group that combats hatred, but shares its name with a vigilante fascist organization from Europe with apparent ties to white nationalism. The president of the B.C. chapter has denied having any direct affiliation with the group's European counterparts.

The event isn't the only sign of growing racial tensions in the city. A number of South Vancouver residents were shocked to find Nazi flyers slipped into their mailboxes in the middle of the night this week.

The flyers feature a picture of Hitler under the words "The World Defeated the Wrong Enemy," and direct recipients to a propaganda website.

Maxwell Baylin told CTV News he was jolted awake by one of the flyers coming through his home's mail slot, and rushed outside to try and catch whoever is responsible.

"It hits me pretty hard," said Baylin. "You've been hearing a lot of what's going on in the world, and suddenly now it's at your doorstep."

With files from CTV Vancouver's St. John Alexander