Hillsborough disaster

The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crushing that occurred during an football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, on 15 April, 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. There were 96 deaths and 766 injuries, making it currently the deadliest incident to occur at a public sporting match in modern history.

Following the incident the South Yorkshire police fed the press false stories suggesting that hooliganism by Liverpool supporters had been the cause of the disaster and that they had acted like hooligans while the police were trying to save peoples lives. However the actual cause of the disaster was the police force's negligence, and the Liverpool supporters were actually desperately trying to help prevent further tragedy, while the police basically did nothing to help.

Following the incident, most of the mainstream media publicised the police's lies as the truth. Most notably The Sun, who ran a front page headline called "THE TRUTH" that claimed that Liverpool fans pickpocket victims bodies, amongst other things.

The first coroner's inquests into the Hillsborough disaster, 1991, ruled all the deaths accidental. Families rejected the findings, and fought to have the case re-opened. 

The second coroner's inquests were held from April 2014 to April 2016. They ruled that the supporters were unlawfully killed due to grossly negligent failures by police and ambulance services. The inquests also found that the design of the stadium contributed to the crush, and that supporters were not at all to blame. Public anger led to the suspension of SYP chief constable David Crompton. In June 2017, six people were charged with offences that included manslaughter by gross negligence, misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice. 

The incident is still cited commonly today in Britain as an example of the perceived image of football fans as hooligans, and corruption in the police force and mainstream media.