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Soccer's worst tragedy remembered
The 20th anniversary of the Heysel Stadium tragedy was marked Sunday by the unveiling of a statue complete with 39 lights to commemorate the number of deaths in European soccer's worst episode of violence. "It is this day that the most terrible page of soccer history was written," said Brussels Mayor Freddy Thielemans, who attended the ceremony along with the mayors of Turin and Liverpool and hundreds of fans.
Thielemans unveiled the more than 36-foot statue. A stainless steel pillar rises from white marble and W.H. Auden's poem, "Funeral Blues", is etched on 39 remembrance stones. As the names of the victims were read, hundreds of Juventus fans from several countries applauded. "I'm very moved, I came here to remember. Even with this monument, we cannot forget," Juventus fan Silvo Gaggimi said.
"Feeling very ashamed, that's why I am here today," he said. The remembrance came four days after Liverpool again reached the pinnacle of European soccer, beating Italy's AC Milan in the Champions League final. After the Heysel disaster, the stadium was torn down and replaced with King Baudouin Stadium. Sunday's ceremony took place close to where most of the victims died. Apart from the dead, more than 400 people were injured when Liverpool fans stampeded into a grandstand filled mostly with Juventus fans. The victims, trying to flee the violence, were crushed to death. Police security was found to be lacking, and the stadium was so decrepit hooligans managed to knock down a flimsy fence and attack opposing fans with chunks of concrete torn from the stands.
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