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Post by northwestman on Dec 11, 2019 17:25:47 GMT 1
Corbyn when in Rotherham today said he was pleased to see a banner for the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, which is calling for answers about the police operation during the miners’ strike at the Orgreave plant in 1984. He said: “A Labour government will open a public inquiry into Orgreave.” Orgreave is as much in need of a Public Inquiry as was Hillsborough. Same police force, and also place in the 1980s. But Amber Rudd thought otherwise. www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/11/amber-rudd-did-not-review-police-files-before-orgreave-inquiry-refusal"Rudd announced she would not hold an inquiry in any form. She said this was principally because nobody had died at Orgreave, there had been no miscarriage of justice, policing had improved since 1984, and the link with Hillsborough could not be made with any certainty. Labour’s Andy Burnham, who has campaigned for an inquiry into Orgreave, said the former mining communities in South Yorkshire had “again been told by the government that they do not matter”. He questioned whether the home secretary had reviewed the relevant South Yorkshire police files that had never left Sheffield, had read new testimony from ex-officers who had been there or had read the secret cabinet minutes in which Margaret Thatcher had told her home secretary, Leon Brittan, to increase the rate of prosecutions of miners".
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Post by ssshrew on Dec 11, 2019 18:40:54 GMT 1
I have to say that since moving here I have definitely realised that there is still a lot of bitterness about the strike and that I needed to look at it from completely different angles. Of course there should be an enquiry if for no other reason than the fact that Amber Rudd says there shouldn’t.
The trouble is that, as with Hillsborough, time has passed and so will some of those involved which could make it very difficult.
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Post by venceremos on Dec 11, 2019 20:23:20 GMT 1
Were Met officers at Orgreave? I remember they were bussed in to increase policing of the miners' strike. There was controversy about them removing their ID numbers as I recall, so it was impossible to identify the wrongdoers.
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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 11, 2019 22:31:17 GMT 1
There was a strike at my then placed of work around that time, part of a national strike. The first day two minibuses full of thuggish looking police had been bussed in from afar. Never any chance of any trouble from the strickers, anything that had happened would have been down to the police spoiling for a fight. After a couple of days of peaceful protest, the police presence was reduced to the local bobbie turning up for a cup of tea with the pickets for an hour or so.
Maggie was, for sure, using the police as a political force at the time.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Dec 11, 2019 22:35:11 GMT 1
Also classic coverage by the BBC - the footage showed the cavalry charge by the police after footage of bricks being thrown.
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Post by wakemanender on Dec 11, 2019 22:53:47 GMT 1
I was at Orgreave amongst numerous other places in South Yorkshire during the Miners strike as part of a West Mercia deployment of Police Officers and can honestly say without going into any detail I was on many occasions ashamed to be a Police Officer. The conduct of some Officers brought in from some of the bigger forces was way out of order and at times criminal. Our complaints to senior officers fell on deaf ears. Upon our return in 1984 I left the force with a very bad taste in my mouth.
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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 11, 2019 22:59:16 GMT 1
Also classic coverage by the BBC - the footage showed the cavalry charge by the police after footage of bricks being thrown. Some say the BBC is not biased, but they do like to please their political masters.
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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 11, 2019 23:06:49 GMT 1
I was at Orgreave amongst numerous other places in South Yorkshire during the Miners strike as part of a West Mercia deployment of Police Officers and can honestly say without going into any detail I was on many occasions ashamed to be a Police Officer. The conduct of some Officers brought in from some of the bigger forces was way out of order and at times criminal. Our complaints to senior officers fell on deaf ears. Upon our return in 1984 I left the force with a very bad taste in my mouth. Not all police officers are equal. When I ran a youth club we used to request the local guy come down sometimes if we had some hangers on/spoiling young people outside the club. One day they sent the dog handler as the local guy was off - he was far more fierce and nasty than the dog. The female youth worker spoke to him first, then promptly came in and sent me out to talk to him as she found him so rude and aggressive - I just told him it was ok, we could manage without him (but the dog was welcome anytime).
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Orgreave.
Dec 11, 2019 23:09:00 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by Feedo Gnasher on Dec 11, 2019 23:09:00 GMT 1
We don’t need an inquiry, Pilch and Downie will be along soon to tell us all what really happened.
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Deleted
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Orgreave.
Dec 11, 2019 23:34:03 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2019 23:34:03 GMT 1
We don’t need an inquiry, Pilch and Downie will be along soon to tell us all what really happened. Not me.. i have not studied that...
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Post by wakemanender on Dec 11, 2019 23:50:44 GMT 1
Were Met officers at Orgreave? I remember they were bussed in to increase policing of the miners' strike. There was controversy about them removing their ID numbers as I recall, so it was impossible to identify the wrongdoers. The Met deployed Officers to many places in South Yorkshire during the strike and they made a lot of money from overtime. Their favourite way to wind up the pickets was to throw holiday brochures out of their vehicles as they went past picket lines. They were away from their own patch and looking for a fight.
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Post by ssshrew on Dec 12, 2019 8:06:40 GMT 1
We came back to see friends in Shropshire recently and we were talking about Yorkshire when one of them said I wouldn’t tell them you know someone who worked for the metropolitan police. This was even though he wasn’t sent up here.
Reading the previous posts I can see why.
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Post by bordersalopian on Dec 12, 2019 8:26:23 GMT 1
Were Met officers at Orgreave? I remember they were bussed in to increase policing of the miners' strike. There was controversy about them removing their ID numbers as I recall, so it was impossible to identify the wrongdoers. IIRC, the ‘local’ police forces to Orgrave (Notts, S Yorks) wore predominately blue shirts, whereas the Met brought in wore white? That was the most distinguishing feature to identify them. I’d previously heard rumours about police officers removing their epaulettes with their Force and number on and antagonising the striking miners throughout 5he strike. Thatcher led Government at the time used both sides of the strike as political pawns, and ruined the Trade Unions in this country as a result...both the Miners Strike and the Print Workers strike at Wapping killed off the strike/picketing mentality. People always refer to the Winter of discontent and the three day week of the 70s, but their seemed to be numerous strikes 8n the mid-80s (miners, printing workers, Liverpool dock workers, steelworks, shipbuilders), but the London-based media try to portray this timeframe as the boom economy, ‘yuppie years’ I honestly think that we are about embark on another era of a ‘then and us’ split after today’s General Election.
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Orgreave.
Dec 12, 2019 9:20:02 GMT 1
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Post by ssshrew on Dec 12, 2019 9:20:02 GMT 1
I completely agree particularly with your last paragraph. When all the election promises are broke or fail to materialise we will not be in a happy place.
We will have to rely on SR and the team for any fun!!
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