Hillsborough: final memorial service held at Liverpool FC
The final annual Hillsborough memorial service will be held at Anfield today, 27 years after 96 Liverpool fans died in a crush at an FA Cup semi-final.
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Inquest verdicts after the tragedy were quashed in the High Court in 2012 after a campaign by the fans’ families. New inquests began in March 2014 and jurors retired earlier this month to consider their verdicts.
Families of the 96 have unanimously agreed that this year’s service, held annually on 15 April to mark the anniversary, will be the last major public event at Liverpool Football Club.
Thousands of fans are due to gather with the families of those who died in the tragedy to pay their respects one last time.
Hillsborough Family Support Group chairman Margaret Aspinall has said the final service will “draw a line under it” after 27 years.
Some 96 Liverpool fans died in a crush at the Leppings Lane terraces at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium after going to see their team play Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final in 1989.
Minute’s silence
A minute’s silence will be held at Anfield at 3.06pm, to mark the exact time the match was abandoned.
Across Liverpool, public transport will be halted, the Mersey Ferry will blow its funnels, and flags will be lowered on civic buildings before bells toll 96 times at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Prayers will also be held at the Anglican Cathedral before the silence.
The hour-long memorial service will end with the singing of the club’s anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “We will never forget those who died at Hillsborough, and this is a day for us to unite as a city and remember each one and also their families and friends left behind.”
A minute’s silence was held on Thursday night before Liverpool’s victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-final. Fans of both teams sang You’ll Never Walk Alone, which is also Borussia Dortmund’s anthem.
Inquest verdicts after the tragedy were quashed in the High Court in 2012 after a campaign by the fans’ families. New inquests began in March 2014 and jurors retired earlier this month to consider their verdicts.