Statue unveiled to honor soccer fans killed in riot

BRUSSELS, Belgium – 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.

Thirty-nine people – 33 fans from Juventus and six others – died when rioting instigated by Liverpool fans broke out at the stadium before the 1985 Champions League final.

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 applauded.

“I’m very moved, I came here to remember. Even with this monument, we cannot forget,” Juventus fan Silvo Gaggimi said.