Kris Cannon wonders how much has really changed since Hillsborough.
In the past few months the authorities have finally owned up to what really happened at Sheffield’s Hillsborough stadium: not Liverpool fans but the methods used to contain them, were largely responsible for 96 deaths in April 1989. But on the streets of East London football fans are still treated with contempt. Any football fan en route to Upton Park or The Den will tell you that police patrolling all areas with dogs, horses and utility belts, makes for a very uncomfortable commute. Moreover, the police now have legal powers to match the strength of their street presence. Under Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act (2006), fans can be banned from games without charges or even a single complaint having been made against them. Meanwhile, in the Palace of Westminster and other parts of the Establishment’s home turf, away-fans – that’s people like you and me who are ‘not one of us’ – continue to be regarded with suspicion.
‘At the Bristol City game a very minor incident caused the riot police to form a wall across Green Street and this just angered and provoked fans to cause more trouble.’ West Ham season ticket holder Freddie Harding believes that, intentionally or not, police methods of crowd control tend to make matters worse. In a deliberately understated tone, he concluded that: ‘police should deal with issues a bit more quietly.’
In the Palace of Westminster, it’s all done very quietly. Nobody shouts at you and everyone treads softly on the thick carpets. Nonetheless, when I attended the House of Commons on 22nd October 2012 to hear home secretary Theresa May lead the debate about Hillsborough and the police cover-up, it felt like we were sheep being herded into a pen. The suggestion that these were my MPs answerable to my concerns seemed as fanciful as the idea that on matchday the streets of East London belong to us.
Of course, in both instances they say it’s all down security. But what’s really being secured here? Is it the safety and wellbeing of everyday people? More likely this is another instance of the elite’s traditional fear of the mob, with ‘security’ merely the most recent rationale for coralling and controlling us.