An official 30-page report by Michael Cadot produced for the French Prime Minister has controversially revealed that riot police were deployed in large numbers at the Champions League Final in Paris due to an association of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster with hooliganism.

Police violence had marred the Champions League Final last month as heavy-handed police personnel attacked match-going fans with riot gear and tear gas, many of whom had shelled out thousands of pounds to watch their teams play in what is the most decorated club game on the global calendar. 

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Numerous eye-witness accounts have documented the gross mismanagement in the French capital, where fans were made to wait for hours on end for their turns to enter the stadium. This resulted in a huge overload of bodies at bottlenecks created by the Police, especially in the areas surrounding the Liverpool end, and led to the disturbing scenes. French authorities immediately attempted to whitewash the narrative by casually pinning the blame on the unruliness of Liverpool fans, thousands of whom were allegedly without tickets. 

And now, a report by Michael Cadot has all but confirmed the worst fears of Liverpool fans- that the injustices they suffered at the hands of the French Police were due to prejudice about their likely behaviour.

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The report refers to the Hillsborough tragedy in a section on police intelligence in the days leading up to the final. While the section recognises at the start, that Liverpool fans do not have a history of violent behaviour at football games, it then continues: “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.”

The Hillsborough Family Support Group has responded with dismay and outrage at the sorry attempt of the French to link the Paris police brutality with the Hillsborough tragedy.

97 Liverpool fans lost their lives due to events that unfolded on that fateful day, and after initial attempts to pin the blame on Liverpool fans, a resolute fight for justice culminated in a 2016 inquest ruling that the 97 fans had been unlawfully killed, and that “there was no hooliganism, drunkenness, ticketlessness or any other alleged misbehaviour by Liverpool supporters that contributed to the disaster.” 

Also read: What UEFA told Madrid and Liverpool fans after Champions League final chaos

Now the French have opened up these old wounds for the families still trying to move on from this tragedy after their protracted fight for justice. 

“This confirms our worst suspicions that a completely false view of what happened at Hillsborough has informed a police force in another country,” said Aspinall, who lost her son James to the tragedy. “It shows the power of the lies that were told by the police in this country, that are still believed and repeated by far too many people.”

Steve Rotheram, the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has shot down the report saying, ”This is described as intelligence but it displays a lack of intelligence and confirms our worst fears.”

“The appalling policing and crowd mismanagement in Paris was based on a falsehood, ignorance, and prejudice. This again underlines the need for a full, thorough, independent investigation.”