Orgreave 1984

Photographs from the picket of the Orgreave Coking Plant during the 1984/5 miners’ strike reproduced as ten greetings cards. Produced to support the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign

The picket at the Orgreave Coking Plant 1984

The Orgreave Coking Plant, now demolished, stood on the outskirts of Sheffield and Rotherham and supplied coke to the Scunthorpe steel works. During the 1984/5 miners’ strike the NUM had picketed Orgreave before calling for a mass picket on 18^th June 1984.

The pickets were surprised to be escorted to the site by the police. During a lull, mounted officers, armed with long truncheons, charged up the field, followed by snatch squad officers in riot gear. Many of those who couldn’t or wouldn’t flee were assaulted with truncheons, causing serious injuries, and dragged back through police lines.

Ninety-five miners were charged with offences of riot or unlawful assembly: serious offences for which they could have received lengthy prison sentences, and in the case of riot, life sentences.

In May 1985 fifteen of those charged with riot appeared at Sheffield Crown Court, the first of a series of trials. After 48 days the prosecution abandoned the trial and cases were dropped for all others. South Yorkshire Police paid nearly £500,000 to thirty-nine miners, without admitting wrongdoing.

There has been no investigation into the conduct of police for assaulting and wrongfully arresting so many miners, nor for lying in evidence. No officers have faced disciplinary or criminal proceedings.

Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign

We are pressing for a full and independent inquiry into what happened on June 18^th 1984.

Our campaign is non-party political and welcomes support from anyone concerned about the pattern of deception and cover-up that characterised police behaviour at Orgreave and throughout the coalfields during the strike.

otjc.org.uk     

GC214 Police snatch squads at Orgreave 18^th June 1984   After mounted officers charged the pickets, squads of police on foot, with short shields and truncheons drawn, chased, truncheoned and grabbed pickets. Photograph Martin Shakeshaft www.strike84.com

GC215 Orgreave Coking Plant 18^th June 1984  The police lines, with long shields, parted as mounted officers with long truncheons charged the pickets, followed by squads of police with short shields and truncheons drawn, who chased the dispersing pickets. 18^th June 1984. Photograph Martin Shakeshaft www.strike84.com

GC216 Orgreave Coking Plant 28^th May 1984  Police charge pickets at the Orgreave Coking Plant on 28^th May 1984. Photograph © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk. All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.

GC217 Orgreave Coking Plant 18^th June 1984  Pickets pushing police with long shields on 18^th June 1984. Photograph © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk. All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.

GC218 Orgreave Coking Plant 18^th June 1984  Lesley Boulton was calling for an ambulance for an injured picket when mounted police took a swipe at her. She was pulled away just in time. Photograph © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk. All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.

GC219 Orgreave Coking Plant 18^th June 1984  A crop of one of a number of photographs which record a senior police officer battering a lone miner who was subsequently acquitted of the charge of riot. 18^th June 1984. Photograph © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk. All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.

GC220 Orgreave Coking Plant 30^th May 1984  Pickets scrambling up and out of the railway cutting to escape police on foot, attacked by mounted officers at the top. 30^th May 1984. Photograph © Peter Arkle/reportdigital.co.uk. All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.

GC221 Orgreave Coking Plant 18^th June 1984  Mounted police hunt one picket on the lane to the Orgreave Coking Plant. He has managed to hold onto his cigarette. 18^th June 1984. Photograph © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk. All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reproduced in any form without permission.

GC222 Orgreave Coking Plant 18^th June 1984  Miners being chased by mounted police down the main street through Orgreave on 18^th June 1984. The coke plant is some considerable distance behind the police. (copyright symbol) Martin Jenkinson Image Library. All rights reserved. DACS. 2020.

GC223 Orgreave Coking Plant 6^th June 1984  George ‘Geordie’ Brealey inspecting the Kent police line on 6^th June 1984. His wife Pat reported that he bought the toy helmet whilst on a rare family trip during the strike to Cleethorpes. George died in 1997. Notice that the police officers were not showing numbers on their epaulets. (copyright symbol) Martin Jenkinson Image Library. All rights reserved. DACS. 2020.

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