Editing Heysel Stadium disaster (section)

== Confrontation ==
[[File:Heysel plan.png|300px|thumbnail|Heysel Stadium by section]]
At approximately 7:00{{spaces}}p.m. local time, an hour before kickoff, the initial disturbance started.<ref name="bbc 2">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/768380.stm |title=The Heysel disaster |publisher=BBC News |access-date=15 June 2006 |date=29 May 2000 |archive-date=12 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112222859/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/768380.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Liverpool and Sections X and the mixed, but largely Juventus, supporters in Section Z (a supposedly neutral section for which itickets had been sold localy in Belgium) stood merely metres apart. The boundary between the two was marked by temporary [[chain link fencing]] and a central thinly-policed no man's land.<ref name="guardian5">{{cite news |url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1448505,00.html |title=Lost lives that saved a sport |work=The Guardian |access-date=15 June 2006 |location=London |first=Andrew |last=Hussey |date=3 April 2005 |archive-date=5 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705170416/http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1448505,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Football hooliganism|Hooligans]] began to throw flares, bottles and stones across the divide and picked up stones from the crumbling terraces beneath them.<ref name=Chalmers/>

As kickoff approached, the exchange of objects increased. Eventually angry Liverpool fans charged towards the Juventus fans, the boundary between Section X and Z broke down, and the few police officers stationed at the divide were overpowered. As the Juventus fans started fleeing, initially towards the pitch (but the Belgian police would not allow them to go there) and the exit (where the officials would not open the gate to allow them to leave) and then towards the decrepit [[concrete]] wall at the perimeter of Section Z. Fans standing near the wall were [[Crowd collapses and crushes|crushed]], and as the pressure mounted the entire lower portion of the wall collapsed, burying fans underneath it as it fell.<ref name="auto2"/> Some fans managed to climb over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured.

In retaliation for the events in Section Z, many Juventus fans advanced down the stadium running track to help other Juventus supporters, but police intervention stopped the advance. A large group of Juventus fans fought the police with rocks, bottles and stones for two hours. One Juventus fan was also seen firing a [[starting pistol|starting gun]] at Belgian police.<ref>{{cite news|title=Italian fan firing a gun at Belgium police|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19850531&id=PDc0AAAAIBAJ&pg=5516,5515417|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen}}</ref>