PlayA two-minute silence has been held to remember the 96 victims of the 1989 Hillsborough stadium tragedy.
The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest should have been one of the highlights of the season, but it turned into one of the darkest days in English football history.
At Sheffield Wednesday's stadium, Liverpool fans were crushed on an overcrowded terrace. The game was halted after just six minutes as desperate fans began climbing over safety fences trying to escape.
The game was abandoned and the pitch became littered with the dead and injured as police and medics tried to revive victims. Others were put on makeshift stretchers made from broken billboards. An official report later blamed senior police officers for not properly controlling the crowd.
At Liverpool's Anfield Stadium, where around 30,000 people had gathered for Wednesday's memorial service, a candle was lit as each of the victim's names was read out.
Following the silence, church bells from around Liverpool could be heard ringing out 96 times. A choir then sang Liverpool's anthem, You'll Never Walk Alone.
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, told the crowd the Queen had sent a message that her thoughts and prayers were with them.
He said: "On this the 20th anniversary of the tragedy at Hillsborough, which roke the heart but not the spirit of our community, Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to say that her thoughts and prayers are with us and all those affected by the tragedy.
"For many here today it seems still like yesterday. Those we lost always in our minds. Never a day passes without a thought of what their tomorrow might have been, without that longing for justice for their sake as well as for ours."
Kenny Dalglish, who was Liverpool's manager when the disaster took place, read from the Bible, Lamentations of Jeremiah while Margaret Aspinall, vice-chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, gave the second reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans.
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham was then repeatedly booed and jeered when he addressed the crowd in a "last minute" addition to the order of service.
Mr Burnham said he brought a message from Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the victims of the Hillsborough disaster would never be forgotten. But the crowd interjected, chanting "Justice for the 96".
Later Liverpool players Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard presented Freedom Scrolls to a representative of each of the families.
The service concluded with Gerry Marsden leading the crowd in a rendition of his hit single, and famous Liverpool anthem, You'll Never Walk Alone, as 96 balloons were released into the sky.
In Sheffield, around 300 people attended a brief memorial service at Hillsborough. Many of those at the ground broke down in tears as they observed a two-minute silence at 3.06pm.
The memorial was draped with Liverpool flags and red and white flowers, while a carpet of flowers, flags and other tributes had been laid at its base.
In Nottingham's Old Market Square, some 2,000 Liverpool and Forest fans remembered those who died at Hillsborough. Many held up Liverpool and Forest scarves during a two-minute silence, which was followed by the playing of You'll Never Walk Alone.
Outside Anfield, hundreds of floral tributes, scarves and football shirts of all colours have been laid in front of the Hillsborough memorial and tied to the Shankly Gates.
Players past and present have insisted those lost will never be forgotten and for one current player, the occasion will be particularly poignant.
One of those who died in the disaster was Jon-Paul Gilhooley, a cousin of Gerrard.
The Liverpool midfielder and England international said: "It was a difficult time to know that one of your cousins was at that game and had been crushed. Seeing his mum and his dad and his close family, the reaction on their faces helped to drive me on to become the player I am today."
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