Former police chief scarred for life 40 years after Heysel disaster

BRUSSELS – Forty years after the Heysel Stadium disaster, former police commissioner Roland Vanreusel remains traumatised “by the sight of the bodies and the cries of those who were dying”.

Before the 1985 European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool in Brussels, English fans clashed with their Italian counterparts inside the Heysel Stadium.

The crowd trouble culminated in a surge by Liverpool supporters towards the Juventus fans, leading to the collapse of a crumbling wall.

Thirty-nine people died, mainly Juventus supporters, with more than 500 others injured.

Vanreusel was 38 at the time, the Brussels deputy chief commissioner and in charge of overseeing major events.

“I am scarred for life,” he told AFP ahead of the May 29 anniversary.

“What I remember most are the cries of pain from those people who were suffocating to death and the cries of joy from the supporters celebrating Juve’s 1-0 victory, unaware of the tragedy that had just unfolded.”

Vanreusel recalled how he had visited Liverpool on a fact-finding mission a few weeks before the final.

“The English police had told me that the Reds’ supporters were among the most well-behaved in England. At Anfield, there were no fences between the stands and the pitch.

“Unfortunately, several thousand English fans arrived in Brussels drunk. They took their places in a dilapidated stadium, with rough stands and loose bricks, separated from the Juve supporters only by basic fences.”

At 7.20pm, nearly an hour before the start of the match, the English fans in stands X and Y stormed stand Z, where hundreds of Italians were seated.

Hundreds of fans piled on top of each other, were crushed and suffocated.

Fourteen Liverpool fans were later found guilty of manslaughter and jailed, while police captain Johan Mahieu, who was in charge of security, and ex-Belgian football