LONDON — At six minutes after three o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, a packed Anfield Stadium in Liverpool will fall silent — as it has at this precise time every April 15 for the past 25 years.
And when the silence is over, the more than 40,000 people will burst into the anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
This is how Liverpool pays its respects to the sons and daughters, the mothers and fathers, the cousins and friends who were among the 96 fans who died in the crush of a chronically overcrowded standing area behind one of the goal boxes six minutes into the FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, played at the neutral venue of Hillsborough, Sheffield.