North East Derbyshire Motion passed
NE Derbyshire District Councillors (members of the Labour Group) with OTJC campaigners at North East Derbyshire District Council Offices Tuesday 3rd January 2017 before the full Council Meeting motion supporting an Orgreave public inquiry.
Motion Passed! Torys voted against as usual.
Here are a few quotes from councillors.
“I was at Orgreave for three days and I can tell you in graphic detail what went off that day because I was there and saw both sides, and it wasn’t what you saw on TV. That day was different to the others in that we were not molested en-route by police, something that we came to expect wherever we went. We were escorted and allowed onto site with a certain joviality evident. Like lambs to the slaughter.
I was at the centre back of the field on that day, looking forward to the bottom end of the field nearest to the Orgreave works. That’s where the police cordon was. To my right there was woodland housing police with dogs, to the left there was the road full of police vans and personnel. To the rear was the railway lines and when the police horses charged I had no option but to run across those lines to escape, and that put my life at risk.
Everybody who tells a story tells it differently because people see it differently, but I’ve had nightmares about that police charge and those horses. We need to take those stories, take the evidence and come to a conclusion. This Government purports to be the champions of truth and justice so let’s have an inquiry so the evidence can be scrutinised and the truth determined.”
Councillor Jeff Lilley (North East Derbyshire District Council, North Wingfield Central) speaking at the council debate on Tuesday 3 January 2017.
On June 18, 1984 he was aged 30 and on strike from High Moor Colliery, Killamarsh, North Derbyshire.
“I was also there on that day so I would like to support this resolution. It’s a long time ago and a period of my life I don’t dwell on given it had a lot of personal implications. But on that day it’s fair to say it was frightening.
I’ll put my hands up and say that as soon as I saw those horses coming I was in a ditch quicker than you could say ‘what the …..’ I’ll admit we were daft for falling into the trap set for us. But the extent of this violence was, to say the least, over the top. I do remember thinking, sat in that ditch, this isn’t a joke anymore. This is us against the full power of the state. I can understand the Government’s reluctance to hold an inquiry into that day, that period, given the state’s involvement. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have one. It’s about honesty and getting to know the truth. People need to know the truth. ”
Councillor Nigel Barker (North East Derbyshire District Council, North Wingfield Central) speaking at the council debate on Tuesday 3 January 2017.
On June 18, 1984 he was aged 27 and on strike from Shirebrook Colliery, North Derbyshire.
“I was also at Orgreave. It wasn’t bobbies dispersing a crowd but police with batons belting people around the head. I ran to the wood where there were police waiting with Alsatian dogs and although I didn’t get bitten my colleague did. They were annihilating them, literally beating the life out of them.”
Councillor Brian Wright (North East Derbyshire District Council, Clay Cross South) speaking at the council debate on Tuesday 3 January 2017.
On June 18, 1984 he was aged 24 and on strike from Ireland Colliery, North Derbyshire.
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