A Long Overdue Step Toward Justice: Public Inquiry into Orgreave

Paul Heron, solicitor at PILC, looks at the announcement of a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave, and the impact it could have. 

The announcement of a public inquiry into the events at Orgreave is a long overdue and hard-won victory for the working-class movement, the families and communities who have fought tirelessly for the truth, and all those who have never stopped demanding justice. It marks a pivotal step in uncovering the full scale of state violence, political collusion, and police brutality deployed during the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

On 18 June 1984, during the year-long miners’ strike to save jobs and communities, 95 striking miners were arrested at Orgreave, near Sheffield. Militarised Police in full riot gear, with truncheons, dogs, and horses, brutally attacked miners dressed in T-shirts and trainers, who had gathered for a mass picket at the coking plant. It was a deliberate and organised assault, not simply ‘something that got out of control,’ but an orchestrated show of force against a working-class movement defending its right to exist, defending jobs and their communities. 

Later those 95 miners were charged with either riot or unlawful assembly, offences that could have led to serious prison time. However, when the cases went to court, the trials collapsed due to the untruthful evidence of officers largely from South Yorkshire Police. All 95 were acquitted. Yet despite this collapse, no police officers were prosecuted, no public inquiry was granted, until now, and no Government Minister was held to account for what happened that day or indeed the violence that was so common place throughout the strike against workers. 

The public inquiry has the potential to shine a light not just on the events at Orgreave but on the broader strategy used by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government to break the miners and cower the trade union movement. As the Orgreave Truth and Justice campaign website states:

 “Orgreave marked a turning point in the policing of public protest. It sent a message to the police that they could employ violence and lies with impunity. It was only a year after Orgreave that the so-called “Battle of the Beanfield” took place, with violent and unprovoked attacks  by the police on New Age travellers, followed by large-scale wrongful arrests. More recently there have been many examples of police violence and “kettling” demonstrators  for several hours – a kind of pre-emptive  imprisonment.”

This is not just about history. It is about how the state operates today and how it defends the interests of the rich and powerful, represses dissent, and attempts to divide and weaken working-class organising. The lies, violence, and collusion at Orgreave were not an aberration. They are part of a pattern.

The announcement of a public inquiry is therefore not simply an act of recognition. It is a demand for accountability. It is a call to expose the political decisions taken at the highest levels of government, the seeming manipulation of the legal system, and the impunity granted to the police. 

For further information contact Paul Heron – paul.heron@pilc.org.uk