Campaigners welcome government announcement to hold an Orgreave Inquiry
Since setting up in 2012 the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) have worked relentlessly to place on the political agenda the urgent need for an inquiry into the role of the police and government during the miners’ strike at the Orgreave coking plant on 18th June 1984 and why neither the police or government have ever been held to account.
An inquiry should give clear answers to:
– 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?
– who and how was it decided that striking miners should be attacked and arrested at Orgreave and charged with riot and unlawful assembly, which carried heavy prison sentences?
– why has the police operational order for police deployments that day disappeared and other evidence been destroyed or embargoed until 2066 and 2071?
The revelations about the role of South Yorkshire Police (SYP) in the Hillsborough tragedy after the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel in September 2012, the Inside Out television programme of October 2012 highlighting fabricated evidence by SYP against miners charged at Orgreave and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report of May 2015 indicating the need for a wider inquiry into policing at Orgreave, gave further impetus for why the OTJC rightly believed that the case for an inquiry was absolutely necessary.
The Conservative Government repeatedly refused to hold any kind of Orgreave inquiry.
Labour Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper has recently been exploring the key issues for an inquiry / investigation such as the scope and format to ensure it best meets the needs outlined by various stakeholders including the OTJC, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), lawyers and politicians.
We are pleased that the Home Secretary has now ordered that an independent inquiry with statutory powers will finally go ahead and we look forward to meeting with the Chair of that inquiry to discuss the draft terms of reference of the inquiry.
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 appreciate the Labour Party’s 9 year commitment to holding some kind of Orgreave inquiry. 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”
Kevin Horne, 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. Plenty of information exists and has already been obtained to give an inquiry a substantial head start”
Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper said: ““I pay tribute to the campaigners who never stopped in their search for truth and justice, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we build an inquiry that gets the answers they and their communities deserve.”
Orgreave Justice campaigners say the The inquiry should:
- have the power to require all the relevant information and evidence to be produced to it;
- ensure those who have an interest in the inquiry must be able to fully participate in order to lend their experience, knowledge and understanding to the process;
- be accessible and inclusive to allow people to provide oral contributions to the evidence gathering process.
This is an historic and momentous announcement, and the OTJC looks forward to the next stages and the inquiry commencing as soon as possible.
