THE TRUTH..... Finally. The survivors, the families of the 96 who lost their lives, the loved ones, the friends, the people of the city of Liverpool and all supporters of Liverpool FC saw the Truth finally made public to the rest of the world. Finally there has been acknowledgment from the government of the cover up and finally the names of the 96 victims as well as all Liverpool supporters who attended Hillsborough on April 15th 1989 have been cleared of ANY wrong doing whatsoever. David Cameron said “On behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am profoundly sorry for this double injustice that has been left uncorrected for so long.” It is a travesty that it has taken this long for the truth to come out, but finally, FINALLY, it has come out.
People who have watched any decent documentary, the TV dramatization by Jimmy McGovern or read any of the true stories of what happened that day will have already been fully aware that there was injustice to fight against. Those who asked the question of "why will they not just let it go" will hopefully have finally received their answer today too. I can only hope that small minded idiots who let petty club, city or personal rivalries make excuses for their disgusting chants of "Murderers" or "You killed your own fans" will take a long, hard look at themselves today. I am aware that this is only a minority in any club but I wont need to remind Liverpool fans that it was only this year that fans of a certain blue London club interrupted the anniversary's minute silence with their disgusting chants. The mind-set for people outside of Liverpool to believe the un-true version events was orchestrated by the Police Service and facilitated by the media in particular The S*n. The report has shown that there was a conscious police effort “to develop and publicise a version of events that focused on…allegations of drunkenness, ticketlessness and violence.” This clearly shows exactly what has lead to the widely accepted myth that it was the Liverpool supporters themselves to blame. Many media outlets reported the lies, however, The S*n (which was the most read newspaper in England at the time sensationalized this further with a banner headline "The Truth" which lead a story containing nothing but lies. It is known that this headline was written by Kelvin McKenzie, the rag's editor at the time. McKenzie today issued an apology which was described by leader of the HFSG as "too little too late". Hopefully, the fact that the report has proven and the Prime minister himself has stated that these stories are complete lies will force people to forget the lies they were fed back then and adjust their minds to the actual truth.
This report is of course only the start. The reports findings have proven that the verdict of Accidental Death in all cases is a farce and a thundering disgrace. The 3.15 cut off point robbed a number of the families of justice and meant that any evidence after this time has never been considered by any court. Speaking at the vigil this evening, Anne Williams made clear that she will now be submitting the evidence she has collected to the Attorney General, for the 6th time and the 6th Attorney General, in the hope that the verdict in relation to her own son will be reversed and a new inquest can begin.
The Truth has finally come out, but this is just the beginning. The fight for justice will continue...
I've put some of the reaction from some of the important people from today below as well as links to the full report and access to the fully disclosed documents.
Sheila Coleman, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign: "Of course [the apology] is welcome, because it is an acknowledgement that Liverpool, the bereaved families and the fans have been telling the truth for years and yet have been considered liars. Without doubt the inquest verdicts have to be quashed. David Cameron batted this back to the attorney general. The attorney general needs to surely, with the evidence presented to him today and the evidence previously presented to him, must quash the inquest verdicts in all cases. With the clear evidence that fans could have been saved - and the evidence is there - he needs to give all of those 96 victims their right under law, the right to a fair hearing. It needs a full inquiry into how they died."
Margaret Aspinall, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, whose son James died, told the AP news agency: "This is what the families and the fans have been fighting for 23 years. Without the truth, you cannot grieve and where there is deceit, you get no justice."
Trevor Hicks, who lost two daughters in the disaster: "The truth is out today, justice starts tomorrow." He added that the families will pursue "any avenue" in their search for "accountability". Mr Hicks said that three people fainted when relatives saw the report. During a press conference with victims' relatives, he said the families "knew nothing about the incompetencies of the ambulance service until today", and that while they had been "staggered" by the level of incompetencies, he did not blame "the guys on the shop floor". Mr Hicks also rejected former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie's apology over the newspaper's coverage of the disaster as "too little, too late".
Anne Williams lost her son Kevin at Hillsborough. She has campaigned tirelessly for justice, forming the Hope for Hillsborough campaign. Previous requests for a second inquest into her son's death have been refused. Speaking at a vigil on Wednesday in Liverpool, Mrs Williams said that her lawyers would be submitting papers to the attorney general demanding a second inquest into the death of Kevin and insisted "they can't refuse me this time". She warned the establishment she "will never go away", adding: "I want justice for the 96."
The Right Reverend James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool and chairman of the panel: "The documents disclosed to and analysed by the panel show that the tragedy should never have happened. There were clear operational failures in response to the disaster and in its aftermath their were strenuous attempts to deflect the blame on to the fans. The panel's detailed report shows how vulnerable victims, survivors and their families are when transparency and accountability are compromised. My colleagues and I were from the start of our work impressed by the dignified determination of the families."
Tom Werne, Liverpool FC chairman said: "On behalf of myself, John (Henry, club owner) and everyone at the club, I would like to extend our thoughts and prayers on this hugely significant and deeply emotional day to everyone affected by the Hillsborough disaster. Today, the world has heard the real truth about what happened at Hillsborough. As a football club, we will continue to remember those who died and support the families who lost loved ones on that terrible day. We hope that today's findings will give some comfort to the families and survivors, and go some way to addressing some of the key questions that have hung over the Hillsborough tragedy for the last 23 years."
Liverpool Football Club said in a statement: "Liverpool commends the Hillsborough Independent Panel report which acknowledges the avoidable catastrophic failures before, during and after the disaster. The club also welcomes the prime minister's apology to the families and survivors on behalf of the government and await the attorney general's pending review of the report. After 23 long and painful years, our fans have finally been fully exonerated of all blame. Today, the world knows what we have always known, that Liverpool fans were not just innocent on that terrible day, but that there was reprehensible and hurtful misrepresentation of the truth. Liverpool Football Club would like to thank the Hillsborough Independent Panel for its rigorous work over the past two-and-a-half years and for publishing a comprehensive report based on the in-depth research and analysis into hundreds of thousands of documents."
(to download a copy, right click and choose "Save As")
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