ORGREAVE VIRTUAL RALLY – Saturday 20th June, 1pm
TACKLING WORKING CLASS INJUSTICES
UNITED AND STRONG
Every year the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign hold a rally at Orgreave to commemorate the day Striking Miners were brutalised by rioting police at the Orgreave Coking plant on 18th June 1984. This gives us all an opportunity to meet and show solidarity with friends and activists and gather together with our magnificent display of banners and placards.
Our campaign for truth and justice this year is commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike and the events at Orgreave. Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions and the lockdown mean that we have taken the decision to hold our Annual Rally online.
We will be live streaming the event via our Facebook page, starting at 1pm on Saturday 20th June, the day we had planned to gather at Orgreave to hold our open air rally. Our rally theme is “United and Strong” and in these times we feel it is important to remember that standing together matters more than ever. Our Facebook event page can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/256199362195476/
Kevin Horne, Miner arrested at Orgreave said:
“When the Tories refused to hold any kind of Inquiry into the police riot at Orgreave, their reasons were that policing practices had changed and there would be few lessons for the police to learn from a review of events from over 30 years ago. It seems the police and the government have learned nothing as we have seen recently when the police charged on horseback through Whitehall at a peaceful crowd demonstrating against racism and police brutality”
Kate Flannery, Secretary of OTJC said:
“The mining communities of Britain know only too well about vandalism and the damage and destruction inflicted on them by the Tories during the 84/5 miners’ strike. We saw the vandalism of pit closures on a grand scale with the mass destruction of the coal industry, communities and livelihoods. We saw police attacking people and running riot, causing damage to vehicles, homes and private property in the pit towns and villages.”
RALLY SPEAKERS include:
Chris Kitchen: General Secretary NUM
Eileen Turnbull: Shrewsbury 24 Campaign
Sheila Coleman: Hillsborough Justice Campaign
Jan Cunliffe: JENGbA (Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association)
Lee Fowler: Blacklisting Support Group
Janet Alder: sister of Christopher Alder, unlawfully killed in police custody
Judy Bolton and Yvette Williams: Justice4Grenfell
Kevin Horne: Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
Sal Young: NHS Worker and GMB Branch Secretary
Compères: Chris Peace and Joe Rollin: Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
MUSIC: UNITE Brass Band & PCS Samba Band
Musician and activist, Joe Solo will also be performing on Saturday evening at 8pm 20th June where Joe promises us all another great night in! Joe will be doing a gig ‘Live From T’Shed #3′ and performing his Miners’ Strike album ‘Never Be Defeated’. Link here for information about the gig and how to attend:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/joesololivefromtshed/
MINERS’ STRIKE STORIES FILM – AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
Our Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign Miners’ Strike Stories film release in March 2020 is now available to be downloaded. It tells some of the real stories from participants of the great strike as a way of preserving on film the heroic struggles of our Miners, Families, Women Against Pit Closures and other supporters from across our mining communities. Please use this link below to find out more information about how to access it.
For more information and to organise interviews please contact:
Kate Flannery
Secretary
Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
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