By John Pickard
On June 18, 1984, police from South Yorkshire and other forces attacked unarmed and peaceful miners’ pickets who had gathered at the Orgreave coking plant, near Rotherham. It was a fine day and most of the miners were in T-shirts and short-sleeves, but as became clear, the police had set them up for an ambush, coming in large numbers, heavily kitted out with riot gear, and with mounted police.
Miners were attacked completely unprovoked and desperately tried to defend themselves as they were battered and subject to charges by mounted police. Some miners resorted to throwing stones.
Unsurprisingly, the Tory-supporting British media presented the episode as one of police “defending themselves” against miners. The BBC took film of a police horse charge and the miners responding with stone-throwing, but when these recordings were broadcast, the BBC disgracefully reversed the order to make it look like the police were responding to stones being thrown. The BBC has never apologised for that blatant, pro-government deceit.
Evidence of excessive violence by police – IPCC
Scores of miners were injured, some badly, and many were charged with a variety of offences. In 2015 – thirty-one years later – a report of the Independent Police Complaints Commission admitted that there was “evidence of excessive violence by police officers, a false narrative from police exaggerating violence by miners, perjury by officers giving evidence to prosecute the arrested men, and an apparent cover-up of that perjury by senior officers.”
Even the historian, Tristram Hunt, who for a while was a (right-wing) Labour MP, said the police action was “almost medieval”, as it went through the various stages: “a siege, a battle, a chase, a rout and, finally, a brutal example of legalised state violence“.
Altogether, over seventy miners were charged with “riot” or “violent disorder”, but the trials collapsed as it was soon realised that police “evidence” was manufactured and deemed “unreliable”. The barrister, Michael Mansfield called it “the worst example of a mass frame-up in this country this century“.
Years later, in June 1991, the South Yorkshire Police paid £425,000 in compensation to 39 miners who had been assaulted by them, wrongfully arrested, unlawfully detained and malicioulsy prosecuted.
After the 2016 inquest verdict into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, when it was revealed that the South Yorkshire police had lied and fabricated statements, some documents linked their behaviour on that day to their behaviour during the miners’ strike four years earlier.
Given the weight of evidence against the South Yorkshire police and the revelations about their behaviour at Orgreave, some of the miners involved have been campaigning now for years for a full public inquiry into the events of that day. The last time it was raised in parliament, the then Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, refused, but the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign have carried on their fight.
A few months ago, the campaign released a press statement, explaining why an inquirty is needed. We are publishing here in full:
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An Orgreave inquiry is in the public interest in order to put the facts in the public domain and to put an end to years of lies and cover-ups by the Conservative government about the political role they played in orchestrating and managing the pit closure programme in the 1980s, directing militaristic police operations in an industrial dispute, and manipulating the courts and media to manufacture a false narrative to demonise and criminalise workers fighting for their jobs and communities.
Kevin Horne, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist and ex miner arrested at Orgreave said:
“The continuing upset and anger in ex mining communities, government and police documents from the time of the strike hidden away from the public until at least 2066 and growing numbers who support this campaign for truth and justice, show it is necessary to hold an Orgreave inquiry to have an authoritative and full review of what happened and why we were treated so badly. We were only striking for the right to work.”
Kate Flannery, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign Secretary said:
“The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign submitted detailed and compelling evidence to the Home Office about why an inquiry should take place into the state sanctioned police riot at Orgreave on June 18 1984. Striking miners were violently assaulted, 95 miners were arrested to be later acquitted by the court due to police lies and fabricated evidence. Our powerful evidence seems to have been ignored by the Home Office and they continue to rule out any kind of Orgreave inquiry. No one in the police or government have ever been held to account for what the government directed and the police did. This is a serious threat to our already declining democracy”
John Dunn, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist and ex miner assaulted by police and arrested during the strike said:
“The Tories are obviously worried about an Orgreave inquiry further exposing their scandals, corruption and attempts to stifle dissent. Their recent raft of punitive and draconian policing anti-strike and anti-protest legislation is designed to criminalise us and shut us up. The right to protest and the right to strike is what we should expect in a democracy”
Amber Rudd didn’t want to “slur the memory of Thatcher”
Following the findings of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) scoping exercise in June 2015, the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, invited submissions for why an inquiry was needed into Orgreave. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign submitted a full written submission to the Home Office in December 2015.
A meeting took place subsequently with then Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, in September 2016, where the format of an inquiry/investigation was discussed.
On October 31 2016, in response to a question in parliament, Amber Rudd responded that there would be no inquiry of any kind.
Since October 2016, there have been significant developments: –
*The release of some Home Office files from 1984 and 1985 to the National Archives.
*The existence of relevant documents from several police forces which have been sent to the South Yorkshire Police Archives for cataloguing in preparation for an inquiry.
*The disclosure by the National Police Chiefs’ Council of the existence and location of Association of Chief Police Officers files relating to Orgreave and the miners strike that we understand are embargoed until 2066.
*The independent approach to the Home Office by the Bishop of Sheffield in 2018 that there be an independent panel set up, similar to the format and terms of reference of the Hillsborough Independent Panel as a means to commence scrutiny and consideration. This was refused by then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid.
*New evidence that has come to light as a result of the ongoing Undercover Police Inquiry, of which the National Union of Mineworkers is a core participant.
*The findings of the Scottish Review into policing during the miners’ strike 1984-85, accepted by the Scottish Parliament in October 2020 and a collective pardoning of miners convicted during the strike
*The support of Conservative MSPs for the Scottish Miners’ Review and its outcome.
*The election of Conservative MPs in December 2019 to constituencies with large ex-mining communities.
*The recent introduction of several new policing laws and the current climate of lack of public confidence in the sensitive issue of the policing of protest.
*The Daily Mirror article exposing Amber Rudd’s conversation about not to hold an Orgreave Inquiry because it would “slur the memory of Thatcher” and upset party members.
*The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign – Megaphone Petition: Demand an Orgreave inquiry for truth and justice.
*Various parliamentary debates and discussions relating to the need for an Orgreave inquiry and investigation into government involvement and policing during the 84/5 Miners’ strike.
*Recent media coverage in 2023 highlighting the late Queen’s response to the police riot at the Orgreave coking plant in 1984. OTJC report and more media coverage here.
*The announcement from the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party at the 2023 TUC that the Labour Party “support a full investigation into the violent events at Orgreave”
*The January 25 2024 Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, quote in the Rotherham Advertiser “We set out in the Labour Policy Forum that we support having an inquiry into what happened at Orgreave”
*Margaret Thatcher’s PPS, Robin Butler, stating publicly in a Channel 4 2024 documentary that during the 84/5 miners’ strike Thatcher expressed her view in internal discussions that riot legislation should be used at Orgreave.
The Orgreave 40th anniversary march and rally will take place in Sheffield, on Saturday June 15. Assemble at 1pm, City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield, S1 2JA.
The press release and information above is all from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, whose website is here.
All the pictures here are stills from a video on the website homepage of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.
