Hillsborough families, survivors, Liverpool fans and politicians are among those to express fury and outrage at revelations that French authorities deployed large numbers of riot police at the Champions League final in May because of an incorrect and hurtful association of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster with hooliganism.
Guardian journalist David Conn, who is well known for his detailed work on Hillsborough, has revealed that an official report produced by France's Prime Minister, Michel Cadot, appears to confirm that the heavy-handed policing many LFC fans suffered, which included being tear gassed and targeted with pepper spray, was informed by grim prejudices based on decades of smears and lies.
The 30-page report refers to Hillsborough in a section on police intelligence before the final on 28 May between Liverpool and Real Madrid. While the section initially recognises that Liverpool supporters have not been known for violence at matches, it then adds: “Reference to the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989 – 97 deaths – for which the responsibility of the [police] was pointed out, led however to the drawing up of a firm policing arrangement, to maintain order in riot gear, in order to be able to respond to a risk of collective phenomena of hooliganism and havoc, as had happened in Marseilles on 13 June 2016 during the England-Russia game.”
READ MORE: Treatment of Liverpool FC fans in Paris 'could have caused loss of life'
The revelations have come as a hammer blow to Hillsborough families and survivors, who have spent three decades campaigning to legally establish the truth of how the disaster 1989 disaster, which caused the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, occurred.
An inquest jury in 2016 determined that those fans were unlawfully killed. For families, survivors and campaigners to hear that mistruths about what happened that day are still informing police perceptions and actions around football matches in 2022 is alarming and outrageous. The jury also found that there was no hooliganism, drunkenness, ticketlessness or any other alleged misbehaviour by Liverpool supporters that contributed to the disaster.
Speaking to The Guardian, Louise Brookes, whose brother Andrew, 26, was one of the 97 people killed, said: “This is a total, outrageous failure to understand the disaster. And this prejudice, that Liverpool supporters are hooligans, based on a complete misunderstanding of something that happened 33 years ago, nearly caused another disaster in Paris, to a new generation of Liverpool fans.”
There has been a furious reaction from fans, journalists and politicians to the Guardian report. Maria Eagle, the Member of Parliament for Garston and Halewood and a prominent campaigner for justice on Hillsborough, said: "The continuing willingness of those responsible for Hillsborough to blame fans, the silencing of families and survivors for years whilst failed criminal prosecutions going on and lack of accountability for 1989 disaster are the reasons."
Shadow front bencher Lisa Nandy was another prominent voice to speak out. She said: "This is absolutely disgraceful. 33 years on, the lies that were deliberately told about Liverpool fans at Hillsborough are still causing so much pain, damage and harm."
Two investigations are currently ongoing regarding the dangerous and chaotic scenes in Paris. UEFA has apologised to fans for their treatment and is looking into what went wrong. The French Senate has also been carrying out its own investigations.
