“We need an official investigation into what the Tory government planned and what the police were told to do and allowed to get away with.”
John Dunn, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign and ex-miner
By Kate Flannery, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) and their supporters have been demanding an inquiry for many years to put an end to years of lies and cover-ups. They want the facts to come out about the political role the Conservative government played in directing the pit closure programme in the 1980’s, orchestrating paramilitary style police operations in the miners’ strike and influencing the media and the judiciary to construct false narratives to vilify the trade unions and criminalise strikers for defending their jobs and communities.
Kevin Horne, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist and ex-miner arrested at Orgreave said:
“The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign submitted irrefutable evidence to the Tory Home Secretary in 2015 about why there should be an inquiry into the government planned police attacks on picketing miners at Orgreave on 18th June 1984. Many of us were set upon by police in full riot gear. We were peacefully gathered and wearing t-shirts, jeans and trainers. 95 of us miners were arrested just for being there and charged with either riot or unlawful assembly. Some of us could have received life sentences. Almost a year later we were all acquitted due to the fabricated evidence and police lies. Neither the government or the police have ever been held to account for what they did to us”
John Dunn, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign activist and ex-miner assaulted by police and arrested during the strike said:
“We were striking for the right to work. There is continuing anger amongst ex-miners that many government papers from the time of the strike are still kept secret and many stopped from public release until at least 2066. The growing number of people who support our campaign for truth and justice shows it must be in the public interest to hold an Orgreave inquiry. We need an official investigation into what the Tory government planned and what the police were told to do and allowed to get away with. It’s forty years ago and many miners have died and many more are elderly and frail. How many more years are we going to have to wait for the truth to come out?”
Kate Flannery, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign Secretary said:
“It seems our detailed evidence was ignored by the Home Secretary who in 2016 used a number of spurious reasons to emphatically rule out any kind of inquiry. Successive Tory Home Secretaries have also continued to refuse to be held to account for government involvement in an industrial dispute and the lies they told to parliament and the public. This continuing threat to our already declining democracy must be of serious concern particularly as a raft of recent draconian legislation has been designed to stifle dissent and prevent our right to strike and protest”
Led by the Unite Brass Band, on Saturday 15th June 2024 at 1pm the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign will be holding a 40th Anniversary march and rally outside the City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield. We will march in Sheffield city centre back to Barkers Pool and hear an impressive line-up of speakers support our call for truth and justice.
- You can join the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign for the 40th Anniversary March and Rally outside the City Hall, Barkers Pool, Sheffield. Assembling on Saturday, June 15th at 1PM.
- You can follow the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.
