Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Battle of Orgreave – Call for Independent Review

The call for an independent review of the files is understood to be supported by South Yorkshire police and by the South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Dr Alan Billings. 
He has told the MPs that he wants to see as much information published as possible so that people can see what happened over 30 years ago. He is believed to have suggested that the files be transferred to the National Archives but remain in Sheffield so local people can access them when they become available.

The disclosure is the latest development in the campaign to get to the truth about what happened when South Yorkshire police officers clashed with striking miners on a picket line at the Orgreave coking plant in June 1984.
Approximately 8,000 pickets faced 5,000 officers in what many regard as the most violent confrontation in the year-long strike.
The so-called Battle of Orgreave led to 95 people being charged with riot and violent disorders but their cases were dropped amid questions about the reliability of police evidence.
Campaigners say some of the thousands of officers drafted in to police the picketing used excessive violence – and that this was followed by the fabrication of accounts during the subsequent investigation.
They have been demanding a public inquiry to determine exactly what happened, but there was disappointment when Rudd ruled this out in 2016 saying “ultimately there were no deaths or wrongful convictions” resulting from the events of 1984.

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