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Hillsborough Dead Remembered
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by Rachel Nixon | April 15, 2009 at 09:57 am
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A memorial service has been held for the 96 Liverpool football fans who were crushed to death in the Hillsborough disaster 20 years ago.
The deadliest incident of its kind in Britain, the crush happened just a few minutes into the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest football clubs, playing at Sheffield Wednesday stadium in the north of England.
On Wednesday, thousands of people came together at Liverpool's ground.
Families, survivors and players were at Anfield for the service.
Sport Secretary Andy Burnham was heckled by those angry that no-one has been held to account for the tragedy.
As Mr Burnham spoke, he was forced to pause as the crowd sang "Justice for the 96".
Before the service started, the Kop and the Centenary stands were opened early and then part of the main stand was opened to the public.
As victims' families took their places on the Kop, the crowd of up to 25,000 people gave them a huge round of applause.
The service started at 1445 BST and a two-minute silence was held at 1506 BST - the time when the match was halted 20 years ago.
After the silence, church bells around Liverpool rang out 96 times.
The silence was also observed by people in Liverpool city centre.
Back at Anfield, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool's manager at the time of the disaster, read Lamentations of Jeremiah from the Bible. A second reading was given by Margaret Aspinall of the Hillsborough Families Support Group.
Families have been fighting for a fresh inquest to be held, unhappy at the decision by the coroner at the original 1991 inquest to limit the scope of his review.
He said the victims were all dead or fatally injured by 3:15 p.m. but the families argue that cut-off meant they never discovered what happened to their relatives and prevented an official investigation into the emergency services' response.
They also accuse police of a cover-up and of trying to place the blame on supporters' behavior.
Sport Secretary Andy Burnham, who was heckled while trying to deliver a message from PM Gordon Brown, has called for all documents relating to the disaster to be released.
"The Hillsborough families have suffered the immediate pain of the tragedy and the anguish afterwards of 20 years without a sense of proper resolution or closure," Burnham said in a statement.
"There is a case for full disclosure by any public body of any document previously unpublished which would shed light on the disaster and its aftermath.
"It is vital that we have transparency, for the families to know they have been able to view all the information about the deaths of their loved ones."
The Anfield service ended with Gerry Marsden leading the 25,000-strong crowd in You'll Never Walk Alone, while 96 balloons were released.
Some 2,000 Nottingham Forest and Liverpool fans also gathered in Nottingham's Old Market Square to remember the dead.
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