ORGREAVE

[Real Geordie]

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive !”

It is over 30 years now since the end of the miners strike, but some issues refuse to lie down and die. Many of you may be aware of the so called “Battle of Orgreave”, when miners and police met in what became a major picket line confrontation. A number of miners (together with a number of police officers) were injured, and subsequently some miners were charged with offences which, if proven, could have resulted in them being sent to prison for many years. The South Yorkshire police had primary responsibility for policing this event, but as was often the case police officers from other areas were sent as reinforcements. When the miners finally came to trial a year later, it became clear that the police statements had been concocted, there had been collusion between officers, and outright lies had been told. The miners were all acquitted, but surprisingly not a single police officer was charged with perjury, or in any way disciplined.

As recently as June 2015 it was announced by the IPCC (which is the body which investigates complaints against the police) that due to the passage of time (there had been a very late referral to them for an investigation) they would not be taking the matter further. And so it seemed the file was closed for ever and a day.

https://www.ipcc.gov.uk/news/ipcc-annou ... g-exercise

And yet …………….. unforeseen circumstances have intervened. The South Yorkshire police were also the force responsible for the policing of a football match (including crowd control) at Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield in 1989, which resulted in the tragic death of 96 individuals along with many injured. One of the main causes of this tragedy was decisions taken by senior police officers. I do not wish to discuss in any detail this separate event, which has been the subject of an incredibly long running legal saga, just ended, but it is relevant that police officers lied about their actions on the day, and statements were again altered to try to place the blame on innocent parties.

There is now a growing demand for a public inquiry into what actually happened at Orgreave because of these cover up similarities. Was this simply a cultural mindset among some (but certainly not all) officers, which considered miners to be “the enemy within” and in the eyes of the police allowed them to “do what needed to be done”. Was there any interference or a guiding hand from the Thatcher government ? It is perhaps important to reiterate that the police should be politically neutral - their job is not to see one side win or lose. If a public inquiry does take place these questions may or may not be answered. Does this matter ? In one sense, this is water which has long ago flowed under the bridge. What has been done, has been done and is now consigned to history. But it does help to explain why such bitterness continues to this day against the police by former mining communities. And this may well be passed on to the next generation, and the following generation - ad infinitum - in folklore . It also explains why the exchange of insults between police and miners in BETM needs to be so explicit, vehement and “so obscene”. Somehow “I say you chaps, you are absolute cads” wouldn’t quite fit the bill.

The following link is from a 2012 investigation by the BBC (just under 30 minutes) dealing with the alleged cover up at both Orgreave (the focus of the investigation) and Hillsborough. Some of the viewer comments left tell their own story !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61980YP1Yvk