Collapse of Hillsborough cover-up felt in Ireland

The following statement was issued by the Bloody Sunday March Committee following the judgement this week in favour of the families of 96 Liverpool FC supporters, found to have been unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough stadium disaster of 1989.

The 96 deaths of Liverpool fans at Hillsborough in 1989 might seem at first sight to have little in common with the 14 deaths on Bloody Sunday in Derry 17 years earlier. But many of the families of the slain know that they are brothers and sisters under the skin.

Grief at the loss of a loved one has no nationality. Anger at establishment denials and cover-up knows no boundary.

Over the years, Liverpool and Derry family members have spoken at one another’s commemorations and campaign events and have taken strength from each other’s determination.

The two causes have also had the great Liverpool writer, Jimmy McGovern, in common. Jimmy’s dramas, “Hillsborough” for ITV and “Sunday” for Channel 4, spoke the same truth about the different atrocities and bound the experiences together.

One of the chief advisers to the Liverpool families, Professor Philip Scraton, has also mentored the Bloody Sunday families and spoken at their events.

All this reflects the sense of common humanity that unites victims of State brutality everywhere. It has relevance to all the unresolved cases of injustice visited on citizens by an uncaring State - deaths in custody, imprisonment by perjury, the oppression of women by undercover officers, the brutalisation of refugees etc., etc.

But all can take heart from the fact that we have shown that ordinary people can take the State on and win. There’s a stretch of the road still to be travelled by the Hillsborough and Bloody Sunday families before we reach peace of mind. But giant strides have been made. We know that we are going to get there.

The thousands of families seeking justice who still face obstacles deliberately put in their way should know that they have all the warmth and solidarity in the world from those who have come through the same experience.

The Hillsborough verdict has boosted the hopes of The Bloody Sunday families and all those who have waited many years to achieve Truth and Accountability. Together we will find justice.

Urgent Appeal