| |
Silence for justice Ten years later, fans still call for action against police
Posted: Wednesday April 14, 1999 04:38 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Fans will hold a minute's silence during a memorial service at Liverpool's Anfield stadium on Thursday to remember the 96 supporters who died at Hillsborough in an FA Cup semifinal tragedy 10 years ago. Yet the silence at Anfield will be in sharp contrast to the loud and angry calls for justice against the police chiefs who handled the disaster. Most of the victims were crushed to death after police herded late-arriving fans into already-overcrowded pens in a fenced-off area behind one of the goals. The tragedy happened just as the April 15, 1989 Liverpool-Nottingham Forest match was kicking off and, with fans dying on the terraces, a policeman ran onto the field to stop the game. Players looked on first in bewilderment and then in horror as injured fans and then dead bodies were lifted over the perimeter fencing and onto the field. It was the worst tragedy in the long history of British soccer and, after a public inquiry, led to sweeping ground safety measures including all-seater stadiums for Premier League clubs. But, in the 10 years since then, supporters groups have also continually lobbied for legal action against the police, who initially blamed the Liverpool fans for arriving late and also accused them of being drunk. Although a four-month-long inquest recorded verdicts that the deaths were accidental, relatives of some of the fans who died have started a private prosecution against two senior officers, accusing them of manslaughter and willful neglect of public duty. In February last year, Home Secretary Jack Straw refused to bow to pressure for a fresh public inquiry in the light of new evidence into how the police handled the tragedy. The 10th anniversary has brought renewed calls for action. Under the headline "Quest for Hillsborough justice must continue," Daily Express columnist James Lawton argued that "official incompetence" by the police should be recognized. "If a train driver or a ferry captain or an airline pilot was found to have responded so inadequately to a threat to so many lives, can we possibly imagine that the file would be closed as formally, as coldly as Home Secretary did the one on Hillsborough last year?" Lawton wrote in Wednesday's Express. "This is the real devastation, the sense that no one in high places cares enough to set the record straight." Although the cause of the tragedy remains contentious, the improved safety and security measures that were a direct result have made soccer far more spectator friendly. High-tech surveillance cameras in all-seater stadiums have made sure that soccer violence at English games is minimal these days compared with the horrors of the 1980s. The government handed clubs millions of pounds to upgrade their stadiums and police manpower was considerably reduced with private security staff taking charge. Rogan Taylor, director of the Football Research Unit at the University of Liverpool, was chairman of the Football Supporters' Association and was among the Liverpool fans when the tragedy struck. He believes that what happened at Hillsborough has revolutionized the sport. "It was a game that was poorly administered, poorly run, plagued by public order problems that were tackled with very unsophisticated security methods that we saw finally exposed at Hillsborough as downright dangerous, mortally dangerous," Taylor said. "That is one hell of a charge sheet and from that I think the game has been lucky to walk away from Hillsborough and into very fortunate circumstances. "There is now the massive advantage of renewed government interest and recognition of the value of the game, as well as public and private money," Taylor said. "We have taken a long, long time to learn the lessons."
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
