Orgreave Coking Plant, Yorkshire, 18th June 1984, Day 104 of the Strike: It was a beautiful morning. Not a cloud int’ sky. I can remember birds singing. Strike: An Uncivil War ***** comment, Netflix 2024
All the police guiding you in. Never seen this before. Because normally they’d stop you on the motorway and make you walk six, seven miles. ibid.
This was the arena of violence. They had set it up. Otherwise, they would never have let us in. ibid.
The miners’ strike of 72 and 74 were about wages … All the miners in the country came out on strike. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher is determined she is going to break the monopoly power of the trade unions. ibid.
Margaret Thatcher is preparing herself for what she knows will inevitably be a confrontation. ibid.
Behind the scenes they were creating a paramilitary police force. ibid.
The Government lies. And here is the document to prove it. ibid.
Mr McGregor had it in mind of the three years 1983/85 that a further 75 pits would be closed. ibid. Government document in national archives
It were about them beating you up. ibid. miner
For the first time in this country you see the use of the short shield and the baton, all straight out of the manual. ibid. comment
They had absolute permission to do whatever they wanted that morning. ibid. miner
By mid-morning the picketing had turned to rioting. ibid. TV news
It destroyed communities. ibid. miner
Behind those closed doors there’s been awful lot of suffering. ibid.
And they could do anything they wanted. ibid.
A few days after the miners marched back to work, the Home Office hosted a party with senior police officers and civil servants to celebrate the end of the strike. The guest of honour was Margaret Thatcher. ibid. caption
In 2016 the Conservative government ruled out an Inquiry into policing at Orgreave. 40 years on, the miners continue their search for answers. ibid.