The photos you’re looking at aren’t from a...

12th September 2012

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The photos you’re looking at aren’t from a movie. They’re images of the Hillsborough Disaster.

23 years ago a lot of people went to a football match. Too many people. Hundreds without tickets turned up for the game, and the police decided there would be less violence if they just let everyone in. Back then football stands had standing sections, and all the ticketless fans flooded into these stands.

Within seconds the only way for people to breathe was for them to push forward; I’m sure you’ve been to concerts and know that feeling. You might know what it’s like to be at the front, slammed against the barrier and struggling to breathe. Now imagine the barrier’s an eight foot tall fence where the only exit is a gate the size of a regular door - which only opens inwards. The crush was immense. 766 people were injured. 96 people died; the youngest was 10.

But worse was to come. In their official report the police blamed the fans themselves, saying it was due to drunkeness. They claimed that even the children were drunk, that they were hooligans and at fault for their own deaths. A national newspaper, The Sun, ran a headline reading ‘The Truth’, which claimed fans pickpocketed the dying, pissed on ‘brave’ policemen trying to help, and savagely attacked one copper giving the kiss of life. EVERY LAST WORD WAS A LIE. The Sun has been boycotted in the city of Liverpool ever since; you’ll never find a copy there again.

For 23 years the victims were blamed for their own deaths. Until today, when a deep public investigation discovered perhaps the greatest case of police corruption in our country’s history; finding an extensive cover-up by the emergency services.

The South Yorkshire Emergency Services did all they could to place the blame on the fans. 164 witness statements were amended; 116 removing sections in which the police were mentioned in an unfavorable light. Blood alcohol readings were also carried out on the dead - even the children - and each name was ran through the criminal database in order to cast the fans as bloodthirsty hooligans.

The investigation has concluded that not a single fan was responsible for their death, the safety of the fans was ‘compromised at every level’, the local Government representative (MP) conspired with the police to spread their lies to the press, and that 41 of those who died could have been saved had the emergency services got their act together.

Team rivalries are cast aside and every single football fan stands in solidarity with Liverpool FC. We look to our law makers and demand that every last conspirator will be punished by a court of law. We demand justice for the 96.

Tagged: Hillsborough Disaster Hillsborough I'm not an expert on this I just really felt that those outside the UK should know

another boy who lived