A public inquiry into the violent confrontation at Orgreave during the 1984 miners’ strike will address questions “unanswered for decades”, the Government has announced.
The inquiry, expected to launch in the autumn, will investigate the events surrounding clashes at the Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire on 18 June 1984, which caused 120 injuries.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said what happened at Orgreave “cast a shadow over communities in Yorkshire and other mining areas”.
“The violent scenes and subsequent prosecutions raised concerns that have been left unanswered for decades, and we must now establish what happened,” she said.
In total, 95 picketers were arrested and initially charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence was discredited.
The inquiry will be statutory with powers to compel people to provide information where necessary, the Home Office said.
The Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox, the Bishop of Sheffield, has agreed to chair the inquiry, which the Home Office said is intended to “aid the public’s understanding of how the events on the day, and immediately after, came to pass”.
He said he did not “underestimate the weight of expectation or the significance of the task”.
Campaigners say they want to know who was responsible for the deployment of multiple police forces and why operational orders disappeared (Photo: PA/PA Wire)The Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign (OTJC) said it wanted to know who was responsible for “organising and ordering the deployment of multiple police forces, including mounted police armed with truncheons, shields and dogs, against striking miners”.
The campaign group said it wanted the inquiry to find out how it was decided that “striking miners should be attacked and arrested at Orgreave and charged with riot and unlawful assembly, which carried heavy prison sentences”.
It added that it wanted to know why “the police operational order for police deployments that day disappeared and other evidence been destroyed or embargoed until 2066 and 2071”.
The Home Office said formal consultation between the Home Secretary and the Rt Revd Wilcox on the inquiry’s terms of reference has begun.
OTJC secretary, Kate Flannery, said the announcement of an inquiry was “really positive news”.
She added: “We now need to be satisfied that the inquiry is given the necessary powers to fully investigate all the aspects of the orchestrated policing at Orgreave, and have unrestricted access to all relevant information including government, police and media documents, photos and films.”
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary, Chris Kitchen, said the inquiry was “hugely welcome”.
“It is vital that this trust is won back and the NUM believe this inquiry will go some way to rebuilding that trust,” he said.
Kevin Horne, a miner arrested at Orgreave, said: “It is now over 41 years since a paramilitary style police operation was planned at Orgreave and it is important to remember that some of the miners attacked and arrested there are now dead and many others are old and ill.
“We need a quick and thorough inquiry with a tight timescale so that surviving miners can at last obtain the truth and justice they have been waiting for.”
Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, said the inquiry was a “landmark moment for justice and accountability”.
“The Inquiry represents an opportunity to examine not only the actions of South Yorkshire Police and other forces on that day, but also the broader role of government at the time,” he said.
“It’s a step towards setting the historical record straight, ensuring lessons are learned, and restoring public trust.”
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