logo
What happened at the Battle of Orgreave – and why is there an inquiry 40 years laster?

What happened at the Battle of Orgreave – and why is there an inquiry 40 years laster?

Independent5 days ago
The government has announced it is launching a statutory inquiry into the violent policing at Orgreave during the infamous miner's strike of 1984.
Dubbed the 'Battle of Orgreave' by historians, the event saw dozens of picketers and police injured in a morning clash with an estimated 14,000 participants.
The inquiry will also look into the collapsed cases of the 95 miners accused of offences there, more than four decades after the events.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper announced the inquiry having first informed campaigners last Thursday. She spoke from the site in Orgreave where the coking plant that was the target of the picketing was located.
'People have waited for answers for over 40 years,' she said. 'The scale of the clashes, the injuries, the prosecutions, the discredited evidence, all of those things – there's still so many unanswered questions.'
'I think the miners' strike still has deep scars across coalfield communities, and the decisions made at that time – the broadest decisions that were taken by the Thatcher government in the 1980s – the scars can still be felt across the coalfields.'
Here's everything you need to know:
What happened at the Battle of Orgreave?
On 18 June 1984, one of the most brutal clashes in modern British policing history unfolded as workers organised by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) gathered to picket a South Yorkshire coking plant.
The previous evening, NUM president Arthur Scargill addressed miners about plans for the following days' picket. Around 2,000 miners were due to visit Orgreave, a major plant near Rotherham where coal was processed into coke to be used in British Steel factories.
Picketers begin gathering as early as 4am on the hot day, and by 7am are being guided in their thousands by police to a nearby field.
Here, an estimated 6,000 police officers have assembled, and are facing around 8,000 picketers. Many of the officers are equipped with truncheons, riot shields, or on horseback.
Just after 8am, empty wagons begin arriving to pick up coke from the plant. Miners begin pushing towards police line, and police push back. At this point, picketers recall struggling to keep their footing or even breathe in the crush.
A few minutes later, the police line opens up, and officers on horses carrying long truncheons advance on the miners. Two more charges like this would take place within the hour, as one senior officer is filmed advising the police: 'Bodies, not heads.'
The third charge is accompanied by snatch squads – police with batons and short shields – marking the first time this kind of unit had been deployed on the UK mainland.
Miners that have not fled are dragged out of the crowd and pulled to the ground. One news report captures footage of a miner named Russell Broomhead being repeatedly hit in the head with a truncheon.
Around 2,000 of the remaining miners are sent to another entrance to Orgreave, where there is another large field. Gates open at 10.15am, when around 30 lorries packed with coke leave the site. Pickets attempt to stop them, and more arrests are made, with allegations of more violence.
It is during this final frenzy of activity that Mr Scargill is injured, claiming he had been hit by a police shield. He said: 'All I know is that these bastards rushed in and this guy hit me on the back of my head with a shield and I was out.' Police deny that Mr Scargill was hit by a shield.
The lorries get through, and police continue to attempt to disperse remaining picketers. The horse charges and snatch squad activity continues until around 1pm, when the majority of the violence subsides.
What was the aftermath?
Following the clash, South Yorkshire Police was accused by critics of having pre-planned the violence and overstating the unlawful behaviour of the striking miners.
This criticism was also lodged against then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who said the Orgreave picketers had attempted to 'substitute the rule of the mob for the rule of law,' adding that the strike action failed 'because of the magnificent police force well trained for carrying out their duties bravely and impartially.'
The following year, the prosecution against 95 of the picketers charged with riot, unlawful assembly and similar offences collapsed. All charges were dropped after their barristers repeatedly accused police officers of lying.
Michael Mansfield KC, who represented several of the miners in court, called the event 'the worst example of a mass frame-up in this country this century.'
A number of lawsuits were subsequently brought against South Yorkshire Police for assault, unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution. The force would later agree to pay £425,000 compensation and £100,000 in legal costs to 39 picketers in an out-of-court settlement.
To this day, the police have not admitted any fault, and no officer has been disciplined for misconduct,
Why has an inquiry been launched now?
The subsequent 41 years have seen several calls for an official inquiry into the events. In 2012, the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) was launched following the success of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign in forcing an investigation into police conduct in that event.
However, in 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it would launch a formal investigation because too much time had passed.
Prior to the July 2025 general election, the Labour Party led by Sir Keir Starmer promised to launch an inquiry into Orgreave should it secure victory. A year on from its election, the government has delivered on that promise.
OTJC secretary, Kate Flannery, said: 'We have waited a long time for this day and this is really positive news. All these years of hard work by the OTJC and our many supporters has helped to influence this constructive announcement.
'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 NUM president, Chris Kitchen, said: 'We are over the moon. We're hoping the inquiry will show that our dispute, which we believe was industrial, was political, orchestrated from No 10, or higher up the food chain towards No 10.
'We never came to this field to cause a riot or to deliberately lame people. I don't think that was the same for the police, who came tooled up, with a plan to injure us, and to try and get the public perception on their side and end the strike.'
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire police said: 'We will fully cooperate with the inquiry in a bid to help those affected find answers.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lebanese murder suspect ‘killed beauty queen then fled to Britain on a small boat'
Lebanese murder suspect ‘killed beauty queen then fled to Britain on a small boat'

Telegraph

time29 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Lebanese murder suspect ‘killed beauty queen then fled to Britain on a small boat'

A Lebanese man accused of murdering his model wife arrived in Britain on a small boat from France. While Ibrahim Ghazal is currently serving a nine-month sentence in jail for arriving in the UK without a valid entry clearance, concerns have been raised about whether he will be able to be deported once he is released. The 36-year-old allegedly suffocated his beauty queen wife Zeina Kanjo to death in Beirut in 2021 and was the subject of an Interpol red notice. The alleged killer arrived as one of the 23,000 people who have crossed the English Channel from France in 2025. There are fears he may try the same defence to avoid being deported from the UK later this year. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the Ghazal case showed the Starmer government had no control over migrants entering Britain. 'As we know that the illegal immigrants arriving are from nationalities 24 times more likely to end up in prison, especially for sex offences,' Mr Philp told The Daily Mail. 'Every illegal immigrant should be immediately deported upon arrival - then the crossings would soon end.' Ms Kanjo's murder in 2021 caused outrage in Lebanon and started a national debate about domestic violence issues facing women in the middle eastern nation. The 33-year-old model, who had represented her country in a beauty contest in Egypt the previous years, had filed domestic violence and fraud charges against her new husband and was trying to divorce him when he allegedly killed her, according to The Daily Mail. 'I didn't want her to die' Just hours after her death, Ghazal fled to Turkey. Al Jadeed, a Lebanese TV channel, broadcast an audio recording in which he appeared to admit responsibility. In a conversation with Ms Zeina's sister, he allegedly said, 'I didn't want to, I didn't want her to die, when she was screaming, I just put my hand on her mouth'. Ghazal travelled through a string of European countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, before he was arrested in Stockholm, Sweden, in December 2022. Ashraf Al-Moussawi, Ms Kanjo's lawyer, said Ghazal avoided extradition for years by claiming he faced a possible execution for his alleged crimes if he returned to Lebanon. 'In reality, Lebanon hasn't carried out an execution since 1994, so it shouldn't have been an obstacle,' he said. Detained by Border Force Mr Al-Moussawi and Ms Kanjo's father, Mohammed, urged the UK government to find a way to send Ghazal back to Lebanon to face justice. Ghazal was detained by Border Force and jailed by judge Ian Lawrie KC at Gloucester Crown Court last Wednesday after admitting entering the country unlawfully. A Home Office spokesman said they never commented on whether extradition requests had been received. 'It is also our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases,' the spokesman said. 'However, we will always do everything in our power to remove serious foreign criminals from the UK so they are not left free on our streets after completing their sentences.'

Starmer's EU reset to drive up cruise prices
Starmer's EU reset to drive up cruise prices

Telegraph

time29 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Starmer's EU reset to drive up cruise prices

Holidaymakers face paying more for cruises and ferry trips to the Continent under Sir Keir Starmer 's reset deal with the European Union. Passenger services are set to increase ticket prices in response to the UK adopting Brussels' rules on emissions costs. Industry insiders warned price rises were likely to mirror those in Europe, where costs on some routes have gone up by more than 10 per cent. This could add as much as £200 to the cost of a seven-day cruise, where a cabin can cost as much as £2,000 at the higher end. Some of the changes will come into force just before the height of next summer, when millions of Britons head to the Continent. Ministers announced last week that they would press ahead with expanding onerous net zero commitments to the maritime industry. From next July all shipping firms, including ferry operators and cruise liners, will be subject to the UK's emissions trading scheme (ETS). The move comes after Sir Keir agreed to link the UK and EU schemes as part of his Brexit reset deal, which was signed in May. It means ministers will set an overall cap on emissions for the maritime industry, with individual companies handed permits setting out how much greenhouse gas they can emit per year. If a business wants to go over its allowance, because demand for services is high, it will have to buy unused permits from another company. Over time the Government will lower the overall carbon cap in an effort to force shipping companies to reduce their emissions. Initially the UK ETS will only cover emissions from sea journeys made between British ports. But ministers have said they then intend to expand it to include international journeys, matching the approach taken by the EU. Companies are poised to pass on the cost to passengers of complying with the policy, including the need to adopt more expensive green technology. The EU Commission has admitted that its ETS scheme, which was expanded to cover shipping a year ago, has resulted in passenger lines putting up ticket prices. In a report assessing impacts of the first year of the scheme, EU officials wrote: 'There is evidence of specific ETS surcharges being applied on short sea shipping routes. 'An analysis of various ferry routes suggests that the impact of ETS costs on ticket prices largely varies across routes selected, with a price increasing ranging from 3 per cent to 11 per cent.' The same report also said that the scheme had introduced freight costs by between one per cent and five per cent and overall shipping costs across the industry by an average of 3.7 per cent. If replicated in Britain those figures would come as a concern at a time when the Government is struggling to keep a lid on inflation. Shipping industry figures said that UK holidaymakers were likely to experience a 'similar impact' on passenger ticket prices to that seen in the EU. One said that they had 'no doubt' that ferry operators would have to increase surcharges on Britons to recoup the extra costs. Another added: 'Inevitably there will be a cost increase to the cruise lines, therefore that money will have to come from somewhere.' Some businesses are concerned that the UK has rushed out its proposals to please the EU rather than waiting for a new international agreement on maritime emissions later this year. They fear that if the standards set by the International Maritime Organisation are less stringent, British firms will be left shouldering higher costs than international competitors. Andy Harmer, the managing director of the Cruise Lines International Association in the UK and Ireland, said: 'The cruise industry contributes £5.8bn to the UK economy, with over a third of the global cruise fleet visiting UK ports each year. 'To maintain and sustainably grow the more than 60,000 UK jobs that depend on the cruise industry, the UK's ETS system must be aligned with international counterparts and not risk the UK's competitiveness in the international cruise market.' There are also concerns that the Government's plans could wreak havoc on 'lifeline' island ferry services which are used by 2.4 million Britons every year. Such routes are vital to island dwellers, such as on the Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles, who rely on them for access to the mainland for healthcare, education and essential goods. The UK Chamber of Shipping is urging ministers to exempt such services from the scheme amid warnings it could push up their fuel costs by almost a third, making many unviable. The Net Zero Department said that linking with the EU's emissions scheme would help British businesses avoid being hit with a new carbon border tax Brussels is introducing next year. A spokesman said of the EU Commission analysis: 'These figures do not apply to the UK and do not reflect that any costs come down as emissions are cut. 'By linking with the EU scheme, we will also cut red tape at the border, protect consumers from higher costs and make it easier for businesses to trade, boosting economic growth at home.'

Another fire at Keighley mill used in Peaky Blinders
Another fire at Keighley mill used in Peaky Blinders

BBC News

time29 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Another fire at Keighley mill used in Peaky Blinders

A derelict textile mill that has featured in period television dramas has caught fire again.A dozen fire engines were sent by West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service to Dalton Mills, on Dalton Lane, Keighley, at about 14:45 BST on are also in attendance, but no casualties have been fire service confirmed that "crews responded to a fire involving a large derelict structure". A significant proportion of Dalton Mills, which featured in Peaky Blinders, was destroyed in a major fire in 2022, leading to two teenage boys being arrested and charged with has been the subject of numerous smaller fires and vandalism since then. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store