Hillsborough charges

LONDON: Prosecutors yesterday announced criminal charges against six people, including ex-police chiefs, over the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium crush in which 96 fans died.

The victims died in an overcrowded, fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Police first blamed the tragedy on drunken fans, an explanation that was always rejected by the families of the victims and the wider Liverpool community. Relatives spent decades campaigning for justice for the 96.