On this day, 18 June 1984, striking workers of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in Britain were assaulted by 6,000 police officers at the Battle of Orgreave. The British government wanted to close 20 coal pits and lay off 20,000 workers. The resulting strike by the NUM was the largest post-World War II strike in Britain with up to 142,000 mineworkers participating. The strike lasted 51 weeks, through 3 March 1985, with no concessions to the workers. Thatcher herself called the workers “the enemy within.”
The biggest confrontation of the strike was the Battle of Orgreave. Police armed with round shields and batons, and horse-mounted police, charged the miners. This was the first use of such aggressive tactics in Britain, which were imported from British colonial police forces’ experience suppressing riots of colonised peoples around the world.
One officer has said they were instructed to “use as much force as possible,” and the miners were “actually doing nothing” when the charge occurred.
95 miners were arrested and charged with rioting. Many remained in prison while waiting a year for the cases to be brought before a judge. Within 10 days in court, the prosecutors withdrew the charges due to obvious signs of fabricated evidence and lies on the part of the police officers. Many of the miners sued for assault, wrongful arrest, and malicious prosecution, and the South Yorkshire Police paid out £425,000 in damages without admitting fault.
In 2012, a BBC investigation revealed that many of the police statements may have been “coached” or fabricated, leading the modern South Yorkshire Police to submit itself to the review of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The IPCC declined to investigate, and the victims of the Battle of Orgreave are still waiting for full justice.
Learn more about the dispute in our podcast series: https://workingclasshistory.com/tag/1984-5-miners-strike/
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