Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
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ORGREAVE RALLY MEDIA RELEASE

Simon

ORGREAVE RALLY MEDIA RELEASE
JUNE 2024

40 years on – an Orgreave Inquiry will help to put the facts in the public domain.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) and their supporters have been demanding an inquiry for many years to put an end to years of lies and cover-ups. They want the facts to come out about the political role the Conservative government played in directing the pit closure programme in the 1980’s, orchestrating paramilitary style police operations in the miners’ strike and influencing the media and the judiciary to construct false narratives to vilify the trade unions and criminalise strikers for defending their jobs and communities.

Kevin Horne, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist and ex miner arrested at Orgreave said:

“The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign submitted irrefutable evidence to the Tory Home Secretary in 2015 about why there should be an inquiry into the government planned police attacks on picketing miners at Orgreave on 18th June 1984. Many of us were set upon by police in full riot gear. We were peacefully gathered and wearing t-shirts, jeans and trainers. 95 of us miners were arrested just for being there and charged with either riot or unlawful assembly. Some of us could have received life sentences. Almost a year later we were all acquitted due to the fabricated evidence and police lies. Neither the government or the police have ever been held to account for what they did to us”

John Dunn, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist and ex miner assaulted by police and arrested during the strike said:

“We were striking for the right to work. There is continuing anger amongst ex miners that many government papers from the time of the strike are still kept secret and many stopped from public release until at least 2066. The growing number of people who support our campaign for truth and justice shows it must be in the public interest to hold an Orgreave inquiry. We need an official investigation into what the Tory government planned and what the police were told to do and allowed to get away with. It’s forty years ago and many miners have died and many more are elderly and frail. How many more years are we going to have to wait for the truth to come out?”

Kate Flannery, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign Secretary said:

“It seems our detailed evidence was ignored by the Home Secretary who in 2016 used a number of spurious reasons to emphatically rule out any kind of inquiry. Successive Tory Home Secretaries have also continued to refuse to be held to account for government involvement in an industrial dispute and the lies they told to parliament and the public. This continuing threat to our already declining democracy must be of serious concern particularly as a raft of recent draconian legislation has been designed to stifle dissent and prevent our right to strike and protest”

Led by the Unite Brass Band, on Saturday 15th June 2024 at 1pm the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign will be holding a 40th Anniversary march and rally outside the City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield. We will march in Sheffield city centre back to Barkers Pool and hear an impressive lineup of speakers support our call for truth and justice.

ENDS

Kate Flannery
Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
otjc.org.uk
Orgreavejustice@hotmail.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

You can find out more about the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign at the links below.

Background

  • 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 31st October 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. https://www.gov.scot/news/miners-strike-pardon-bill-passes/
  • 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. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/top-tories-blocked-orgreave-inquiry-25136059
  • The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign – Megaphone Petition: Demand an Orgreave inquiry for truth and justice. https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/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:  https://otjc.org.uk/even-the-queen-was-horrified-by-police-conduct-at-orgreave/
  • 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 25th January 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 release of a new documentary about the miners’ strike and Orgreave on 18th June 2024 – Strike: An Uncivil War https://www.sheffdocfest.com/film/strike-uncivil-war
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