Protesters call for inquiry into ‘Battle of Orgreave’

Thousands of people will join a protest on Saturday to keep up the pressure for an inquiry into one of the most violent clashes of the miners’ strike 39 years ago.

Police confronted pickets outside a coking plant in Orgreave, South Yorkshire, on June 18 1984, in what the miners said was a military-style operation to attack them.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) continues to call for an inquiry, claiming years of “lies and cover-ups” over the Conservative government’s role in policing of the year-long strike.

Former miner Kevin Horne, one of 95 miners arrested at the so-called “Battle of Orgreave”, said: “We were only striking for the right to work.

“Pardons by the Scottish government for Scottish miners arrested during the miners’ strike, continuing anger in ex mining communities, papers from the time of the strike embargoed from public release until at least 2066 and growing numbers who support this campaign for truth and justice, show it is in the public interest to hold an Orgreave inquiry to have a full and authoritative review of what happened and why we were treated so badly”.

The OTJC has submitted evidence to the Home Office about why it believes there should be an inquiry.

The campaign’s secretary, Kate Flannery, said: “Our powerful and detailed evidence seems to have been  ignored by the Home Office and after giving the OTJC false hope – any kind of Orgreave inquiry was categorically ruled out.

“No-one in Government or the police has ever been held to account for what the government directed and the police did. The Tory Government’s attempts to sweep malicious and dangerous government and police conduct under the carpet will not make it go away. It is a serious threat to our already declining democracy.”

Another ex-miner, John Dunn, said: “The Tories are clearly afraid that an Orgreave inquiry would  further expose their scandals, corruption and attempts to stifle dissent.

“They have recently and very quickly organised a whole raft of draconian policing, anti-strike and anti-protest legislation to criminalise us and shut us up.”

The annual march and rally will be held in Sheffield on Saturday.