The government has announced an inquiry into the violent policing at Orgreave and the collapsed prosecutions of 95 miners, 41 years after the clashes during the 1984 miners' strike. The decision comes after decades of campaigning by victims' groups and politicians who argue that the police actions and subsequent legal proceedings amounted to a miscarriage of justice.
The inquiry will examine the events of 18 June 1984, when thousands of picketing miners clashed with police at the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire. The policing tactics, including the use of horses and baton charges, have been widely criticized as excessive. The prosecutions of 95 miners for riot and unlawful assembly collapsed in 1985 amid accusations that police officers had lied in court.
Key questions the inquiry will seek to answer include whether police deliberately provoked violence, whether evidence was fabricated to justify arrests and charges, and whether senior officers misled the courts. It will also investigate the role of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government in the policing strategy.
The inquiry is expected to hear from hundreds of witnesses, including former miners, police officers, and officials. It will have the power to compel testimony and access government documents. The outcome could lead to compensation for those wrongly convicted or affected by the policing, as well as potential reforms to police accountability and public order policing.
