Sheffield Lord Mayor, Magid Magid, has written an open letter to the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, in support of demands by miners and their families for a public enquiry into the Battle of Orgreave. Javid’s predecessor Amber Rudd ruled out an enquiry. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
Hundreds of Orgreave justice campaigners joined a ‘noisy protest’ outside the Home Office on Marsham Street, London. The demonstration was organised by the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign and brought together trade unionists, campaigners and former miners. It follows the Home Secretary’s decision last year, not to grant an independent public inquiry into police brutality against striking miners at the Orgreave coking plant in June 1984. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
https://vimeo.com/208374560
Original members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, portrayed in the acclaimed film Pride, were in Sheffield to celebrate Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans+ History Month. The LGBT+ activists were at the Millennium Gallery as part of a weekend of events which also mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation in law of male homosexuality in England and Wales. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live
Twelve months on from submitting a legal dossier to the Home Office, the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign have renewed their call for a full enquiry into the Battle of Orgreave. The campaign responded in December 2015 to a Home Office request for evidence concerning allegations of police brutality and wrongdoing against picketing miners at the Orgreave coking plant on 18 June 1984. The legal dossier included information relating to complaints of police fabrication of evidence, wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution and perjury. One year on members of the campaign made their way to London to protest current Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into the events or Orgreave. The Home Office has said that it will additional files on the 1984 miners’ strike in early 2017, including information relating to Orgreave. Simon Thake reports for SheffieldLive!
Justice campaigners have reacted cautiously to the government announcement of the planned release in 2017 of previously secret files on the miners’ strike including documents relating to the Battle of Orgreave. In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said thirty files relating to the UK miners’ strike would be sent to the National Archives. The subject titles show at least one file relates directly to Orgreave. In October the Home Secretary ruled out an inquiry into the 1984 clashes between miners and police at the Yorkshire coking site. Campaigners have said officers led by South Yorkshire Police were heavy-handed and manufactured statements. Sheffield Live! reporter Azz Mohammed spoke to Orgreave campaigner Craig Mansell and Councillor Chris Peace.
Ex-miner Paul Darlow was nineteen years old in 1984 and at the picket line on the day of the Orgreave confrontation. In an interview for Sheffield Live! he spoke to reporter Azz Mohammed.
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign hosted a conference in Sheffield for campaigners on police justice. As well as Orgreave campaigners the conference was addressed by members from the Shrewsbury twenty four campaign and the Rotherham twelve campaign. The Orgreave campaign continues to fight for a full, independent inquiry into events at Orgreave on 18 June 1984. Sheffield Live! reporrter Simon Thake spoke to two people present that day, miner Kevin Horne and Dr Bridget Pemberton from Police Watch.
Robert MacNeil Wilson, author of a fictional account of the miners strike, has backed calls for an enquiry into the Battle of Orgreave. Wilson’s novel, The Enemy Within, is based on the author’s first hand experience of the miners’ strike of 1984 to 1985. Orgreave justice campaigners met recently with Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Government is expected to make an announcement on the matter in October. Sheffield Live! reporter Simon Thake spoke to Robert MacNeil Wilson.
Many people gathered at the Sheffield Cathedral to remember the Yorkshire miners who lost their lives whilst working in the industry. It’s the tenth year of the Miner’s Memorial Day, but only the second time the service has been held here in Sheffield. This year will see the last industrial coal mine in Yorkshire close, when Kellingley Colliery ceases production in December. Sheffield Live spoke to Chris Kitchen, the General Secretary of the National Union of Mine workers.