May 29: On This Day in World History … briefly
Despite the scale of the disaster, UEFA officials, Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, Brussels Mayor Hervé Brouhon and the city's police force felt that abandoning the match would have risked inciting further trouble and violence and the match eventually kicked off after the captains of both sides spoke to the crowd and appealed for calm.
1985: European Cup violence kills 41
Britain’s hated soccer hooligans went on a rampage at Heysel Stadium in Belgium, causing a riot that left 41 fans crushed or trampled to death and about 250 injured. Most of the casualties were Italian football supporters. Chanting, flag-waving hooligans from Liverpool charged Italian fans in the stands during the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus, causing immediate panic as a wall and safety fence collapsed under the surge of people.
At approximately 7 pm local time, an hour before kick-off, the trouble started. Liverpool and Juventus supporters in sections X and Z stood merely yards apart. The boundary between the two was marked by temporary chain link fencing and a central thinly policed no-man’s land. Hooligans began to throw stones across the divide, which they were able to pick up from the crumbling terraces beneath them. The fighting went on as police struggled to rescue those who were trapped, with hooligans using lethal iron bars and bottles – whatever they could find – as weapons. Bodies were being laid out in the car park as mounted riot police rode in to stop the fighting.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
