Wearing T-shirts spouting a variety of pro-marijuana messages, a group of about 40 marijuana advocates quietly strolled into Town Center at Aurora on Saturday in support of a man banned from the mall last week after wearing a similar shirt.

Unlike the man banned last week, 28-year-old John Gailey, Saturday’s group wasn’t asked to leave the mall or change their attire.

Instead, the group walked from store to store like any other shoppers.

Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, which organized the event, said his group hoped the event would make it easier for other marijuana advocates to wear pro-marijuana shirts without problems.

“We find it ridiculous that a young gentleman was harassed and banned from the Aurora mall for wearing a T-shirt,” he said.

Mall officials and police insisted last week that Gailey wasn’t banned from the mall for one year for wearing the T-shirt, but rather for the scene he created when mall officials asked him to remove it because of the mall’s family night function that night.

The T-shirt in question said “Yes we Cannabis,” and featured a marijuana leaf on the front.

Gailey didn’t attend Saturday’s event because of the ban, but his mother, Linda Gailey, was one of the protesters.

Linda Gailey said she and her son were extremely upset over the incident.

“I had a lot more offensive shirts in the 1970s and I wore them everywhere,” she said.

Mall officials could not be reached for comment over the holiday weekend.

One woman at the mall Saturday said she was glad the mall asked Gailey to leave last week and wished the protesters weren’t their either.

Tara Poupritt, 29, said that if she were there with her child and saw people promoting marijuana, she wouldn’t like it.

“I would be extremely upset,” she said.