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I never knew about this either, but I read a lot about it today including some very chilling accounts like the one above. My god, what a tragic, ****ed up situation.
I was watching the tv that day. The sports programme I was watching, went 'live' to Hillsborough to show events as they happened there. I saw a tragedy unfold, and it remains vividly in my memory. Police stood in front of locked gates without keys to open them, so fans could have escaped onto the pitch.
Some fans were trying to climb over the fence, and police pushed them back into the crush, and the total chaos, without anyone in authority knowing what to do.
The day after, there were photos which had been taken of fans crushed against the security fence in newspapers. I would think some of the people in the photos had died. One paper blamed the fans, and said some had been seen stealing from injured or dead folks. This was later found to be totally untrue. The police claimed it was all the fault of fans without tickets forcing their way into the part of the soccer ground in which the disaster unfolded.
As time passed, and more investigations were carried out, it was clear the police were involved in a cover up to save their own careers. They muddied the water, and covered their own backs. Those fences should never have been there at all. They had been installed because of pitch invasions of fans at some games in the past.
On reflection, anyone could see these fences which prevented a pitch invasion, also meant folks in a crush from others pushing forward at the back, was a disaster waiting to happen. After this tragedy, all such security fences were removed from football grounds around the country, and eventually, all seating stadiums became the norm.
This awful event is still unfolding, and I would think at last, policemen involved in a cover up will be held to account. They will be retired now on nice pensions. Their names have been known for a long time, and they have avoided any official action until now. The families of the dead want to see someone held responsible for the death of their loved ones, who on that day just went to see a soccer match.
I was watching the tv that day. The sports programme I was watching, went 'live' to Hillsborough to show events as they happened there. I saw a tragedy unfold, and it remains vividly in my memory. Police stood in front of locked gates without keys to open them, so fans could have escaped onto the pitch.
Some fans were trying to climb over the fence, and police pushed them back into the crush, and the total chaos, without anyone in authority knowing what to do.
The day after, there were photos which had been taken of fans crushed against the security fence in newspapers. I would think some of the people in the photos had died. One paper blamed the fans, and said some had been seen stealing from injured or dead folks. This was later found to be totally untrue. The police claimed it was all the fault of fans without tickets forcing their way into the part of the soccer ground in which the disaster unfolded.
As time passed, and more investigations were carried out, it was clear the police were involved in a cover up to save their own careers. They muddied the water, and covered their own backs. Those fences should never have been there at all. They had been installed because of pitch invasions of fans at some games in the past.
On reflection, anyone could see these fences which prevented a pitch invasion, also meant folks in a crush from others pushing forward at the back, was a disaster waiting to happen. After this tragedy, all such security fences were removed from football grounds around the country, and eventually, all seating stadiums became the norm.
This awful event is still unfolding, and I would think at last, policemen involved in a cover up will be held to account. They will be retired now on nice pensions. Their names have been known for a long time, and they have avoided any official action until now. The families of the dead want to see someone held responsible for the death of their loved ones, who on that day just went to see a soccer match.
I can't really add any more to Dave's description, other than to say it was very distressing to watch at the time. It's one of those things that you will never forget. I can't even watch clips of it anymore, knowing that all those innocent football fans died, and some of them were children.
Some so called 'newspapers' were disgraceful at the time - I'm naming and shaming 'The Sun' in particular, who tried to put all the blame onto the football fans.
To think, it's taken all this time for the families to get some sort of justice, but it's still not over yet. The actions of those at South Yorkshire Police still need to be taken into account.
South Yorkshire Police were negligent, but tried to launch a cover up in order to blame the fans. Lots of police were allegedly told what to write in statements by their Senior Officers, with disgusting stories about the fans behaviour being fed to the press at a time when so many families were greiving for loved ones. The families have campaigned since the events and a Jury recently gave an 'Unlawful Killing' verdict in relation to the 96 people killed that day.
The Independent Police Complaints Authority are still investigating other aspects of the case, including Senior Officers links to the Freemasons, whilst the families of the 96 are now persuing those responsible through the Courts and Legal Action.
I still feel the fans played a big part in this awful disaster , but mistakes were also made.
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