Liverpool's shared adversity helps city 'stand together' after victory parade crash

Compassion, care and solidarity evident on Monday night as people rallied to help after driver ploughs into crowd

Liverpool’s footballing prowess has made it the most successful club in England, but that wealth of honours has sometimes been tinged by tragedy.

Among Monday's crowds at the victory parade that was marred by a car striking supporters, were those who had witnessed the 1989 disaster at Hillsborough football ground in which 97 people died. A decades-long search for justice ensued for the families of the victims.

This month, Liverpool announced plans for a new memorial to mark 40 years since the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 football supporters died before the European Cup final against Juventus in Brussels. The anniversary falls on Thursday this week.

Now the celebration of the 2024/25 Premier League victory – matching Manchester United's record 20 titles to go alongside the club's eight FA Cups and six European Cups – has been marred by horrific scenes.

This week's incident, while not comparable with Heysel or Hillsborough, still sounded echoes of those distressing times.

That there were, to date, no fatalities on this occasion was a measure of the emergency services' preparation for a mass event, with 750,000 people on the streets to celebrate the latest title win.

That meant medics were on hand to look after those injured by the Ford Galaxy that ploughed into the crowd. Police have arrested a white British man, 53, on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and drug driving.

Emergency personnel at the scene of Monday's incident. AP

His ethnicity, released at unparalleled speed by the police, also probably prevented further tragedy after lessons were learnt following last year's stabbings in Southport, a town 30km north of Liverpool, where three young girls were murdered.

Social media, which had sparked race riots after misinformation in the Southport attack, was already fomenting blatant untruths about terrorism minutes after Monday's attack. Liverpool’s sizeable Muslim community was on edge, fearing a backlash, before the official message came out.

Adversity

Liverpool’s resilience was also sorely tested in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, when unemployment and economic hardship were rife.

But this created a depth of spirit witnessed in shared adversity that has made the city unique. The strength of character among the city's half-million population was instantly recognisable in the compassion and care shown on Monday night.

“Liverpool has always pulled together in a tragedy or a disaster like this,” Peter Scarfe, chairman of the Hillsborough Survivors Supporters Alliance, told The National.

Alongside footballing tragedies, incidents such as the killing of three girls at a dance class or a terror attack in the nearby city of Manchester have galvanised its people, he says.

“We've got the lived experience of the aftermath of Hillsborough, Heysel, the Manchester arena attack [in 2017] where we had people from Liverpool killed, and then Southport, the city has just pulled together. We either know someone or we know someone who knows someone affected.”

Among those was a woman from his organisation whose father had been injured at Hillsborough. She was at Monday's parade and immediately dropped to her knees to help a man she saw knocked down by the vehicle.

“That's a measure of how many times we've been here as a city and how we pull together and support each other,” he added.

No matter what club they came from, whether its Liverpool or Everton, “everybody will stand” together, said Pat Moloney, a local councillor.

“We've seen this so many times in Liverpool, where there is such a strong local identity and strong support.”

The city’s “virtuous circle of success” had, Mr Moloney suggested, led to them being in places that others clubs had not, where calamity could strike.

That success, said Mr Scarfe, meant that its fans had experienced both distressing and uplifting moments. “They know how to deal with it. They also know how to avoid certain situations. It's not wrong place, wrong time, it's just that with success you travel more, achieve more and experience more.”

Liverpool players celebrate with fans during the team's victory parade in Liverpool on Sunday. EPA

Blame game

The Muslims among the Hillsborough survivors had feared that Monday's attack was a deliberate act of terrorism that would be blamed on their community.

“We've got members who are from Muslim backgrounds who were there,” said Mr Scarfe. “The first thing they said to me was, ‘I pray that it's not a Muslim’ because they would have been blamed for this if the attacker’s background had not been released straight away.”

That was important as Imam Adam Kelwick, a faith leader from the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool, warned that far-right social media accounts were making false accusations that the perpetrator was a Muslim, minutes after the attack.

He told The National people had contacted him to say they felt “unsafe”, “isolated and targeted” as the fake news agitators pointed the finger at Muslims.

Mr Kelwick, who lived in Sheffield at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, was at the parade on Monday and said it was a “very sad end to what was a happy day".

But he cautioned against comparing the two incidents, out of respect for the fans who were affected by them.

For some survivors of those earlier tragedies, Monday's crash had a triggering effect.

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk lifts the Premier League trophy at Anfield. PA

John Ashton, a doctor and Liverpool supporter who tended to the injured at Hillsborough, told The National the incident brought back memories.

“I've become very apprehensive about big crowds and I'm very sensitive to when arrangements don't look as robust as they should do,” said Dr Ashton.

“So I was feeling quite triggered on Monday night. I think the people who were at Hillsborough may well have found yesterday particularly difficult.”