Liverpool ceremony recalls Hillsborough tragedy

Liverpool’s Anfield football ground stood in silence Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster, in which 96 people were crushed to death.

A bell tolled as the names of the victims were read out, ahead of a minute’s silence at 3:06 pm — the time when the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was abandoned, as the full scale of the tragedy became clear.

The bells of Liverpool’s two cathedrals also rang out to honour the victims of the disaster, caused by massive overcrowding in the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough ground in the northern city of Sheffield.

After the silence — which was also observed outside Hillsborough and in Nottingham, where people bowed their heads in a mark of respect to those who died — the crowd spontaneously broke out into dignified applause.