Comparison of station to 'death camp' condemned

Two Liverpool councillors have been criticised after comparing crowd control measures at a train station to methods used in Nazi concentration camps.

Liberal Democrats Pat Maloney and Richard Kemp were responding to planned changes to Sandhills station near Everton's Hill Dickinson stadium, which would supporters go through "corralling areas" and "sterile zones".

Maloney told a Liverpool Council planning meeting the scheme was "like something out of a horrific death camp in Nazi Germany" while Kemp likened it to "a greeting area at Auschwitz".

Both councillors have since apologised for any offence caused by the comments, which were described as "appalling" by local Jewish community leaders.

A Merseyrail spokesman told the meeting safe queuing space outside the station would be provided in extended "corralling zones".

Merseyrail admitted the area was "tight" and people were currently having to be "pushed through" but the new plans would open up the land for fans to queue safely.

Kemp said the proposals treated supporters "like cattle."

He said: "It's now nine years since the passenger transport authority knew there was going to be a new stadium.

"Last year you introduced something which the mayor announced as pens, which to me were like the greeting area for Auschwitz. Absolutely disgraceful."

Maloney then asked the Merseyrail representatives: "Why didn't you get this right the first time, because this is a major change?"

He added: "The language is appalling and dehumanising; a corralling area, a sterile zone, this is human beings we're talking about here.

"This is like something out of a horrific death camp in Nazi Germany. Really, this just amazes me."

The comments were quickly condemned by political opponents and Jewish community representatives.

Jeremy Wolfson, chair of the Merseyside Jewish Representative Council and a former Liverpool Labour councillor, said: "I lost family in the holocaust, it's a very sensitive issue.

"To compare it to that is appalling. It's not comparable to people being taken away to be murdered.

"Using language like that shows an ignorance of history and an insensitivity towards those who suffered real hardship".

David Coleman, from the Allerton Synagogue, said the language was "despicable".

He added: "I understand what they're saying about fans being corralled on matchdays, but the comparison about death camps is something totally different."

Labour City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram told BBC Radio Merseyside people had the right to criticise planning applications, but "that doesn't then mean that anybody can use what's happening here as comparable with what happened during the Holocaust".

He said he had written to Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, calling for both councillors to be suspended pending investigation.

But the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Liverpool, Carl Cashman, said he would not remove the whip from either of his colleagues despite calls to do so.

He criticised the combined authority, mayor and council for the "inadequate" provision for fans at Sandhills.

Cashman said: "They've had years to sort this and they couldn't put together a decent system to get them to and from the stadium.

"There's very strong language that's been used and I probably wouldn't have used it myself, but I understand where the emotion has come from.

"The person who has questions to answer over this is the mayor. The combined authority has put in a subpar planning application and has overseen a dangerous situation for fans."

Kemp told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he stood by his comments.

In a later statement, he said he had been a councillor for 44 years and that "during that time no councillor has been to more events with the Jewish community than I have".

He said he had always shown his opposition to antisemitism.

He added: "I raised the Auschwitz metaphor because I really believe that the trains are bringing people in to a dangerous station and we have been lucky not to have deaths and injuries at that station and in the wider area.

"I believe that politicians from another Party are tying to use my choice of language to excuse themselves from blame for the dangers they have created."

He added that it was not his intention to upset anyone, and would "continue to stand with the Jewish Community of Liverpool, as I have done for more than four decades when they need friends in the wider community".

Maloney told the BBC he had been angry with the attitude of officers presenting the application to the committee.

He said: "I would apologise to anybody I've offended by this, but I would defend myself and say the attitude of the officers was not good. Treating people disrespectfully is part of a slippery slope."

He added: "I think it's contingent on politicians to defend human rights, to defend the dignity of all citizens, of all humans.

"It certainly wasn't meant to be offensive. It was meant to defend people and to ensure that what was proposed would be acceptable."

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