On this day in 1984 5000 miners arrived to shut down the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire.As the pickets moved forward to prevent lorries entering the plant mounted police charged and miners responded by throwing stones.Further charges followed with riot squads handing out beatings to anyone in their reach.The plant then closed for the day and many strikers left , those remaining playing football in fields or sunbathing.Without warning or provocation another mounted charge took place & pursued the strikers into Orgreave village.
The events have been described by historian Tristram Hunt as "almost medieval in its choreography ..... at various stages a siege, a battle, a chase, a rout and, finally, a brutal example of legalised state violence"
71 pickets were charged with riot which carried a life sentence & 24 with violent disorder.The trials collapsed because of lack of evidence Micheal Mansfield called it "the worst example of a mass frame-up in this country this century"
Lawsuits brought against South Yorkshire police for assault, wrongful arrest , unlawful detention and malicious prosecution secured damages and costs of more than half a million pounds.No officers were disciplined. It was said by one policeman that senior officers ordered them not to write anything in their pocketbooks , a practice that later emerged as a key factor in the cover up of Hilsborough .
pictured below is Lesley Boulton who narrowly avoided having her head smashed in , pulled to safety at the last moment. Photo by John Harris