Scargill joins rally marking 40 years since Orgreave

Former National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) leader Arthur Scargill was among about 400 people who marked the 40th anniversary of one of the most violent days of the miners' strike.

People from all over the country waved banners as the annual Orgreave rally was held in Sheffield City Centre on Saturday.

Organisers said the event was held to raised awareness of the clash involving police and miners outside the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire in June 1984.

Chris Peace, from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, said it was important to "remember what happened that day".

"We have a rally every year, and, for the last few years, it's been here in Sheffield, but we’re here to remember what happened that day and to remind everyone, particularly those with the power to do something about it, that this wrong has not been made right and we still need the truth and justice of that day," she told BBC Look North.

The Battle of Orgreave, as it is often referred to, began when thousands of miners, who were striking against pit closures, surrounded the plant on 18 June 1984 to try to stop lorries carrying coal into the plant.

They were met by about 6,000 police officers, some on horses and some with riot shields.

More than 100 people were injured after mounted police officers charged at the miners.

95 miners were arrested and charged with riot and unlawful assembly.

However, their trials collapsed amid claims of police misconduct and perjury by officers.

Mr Scargill was NUM president at the time and is now aged 86.

Ms Peace, whose campaign group organised the event, said justice is still needed for what the men went through.

She said: “An inquiry now would hopefully bring some accountability, as there hasn’t been any accountability or formal admission that there was state interference in how police acted during the miners' strike, not just at Orgreave, but the whole strike.

“There’s evidence now in the public domain that there was direct interference by cabinet members and that the prime minister of the day interfered with how pickets were policed, interfering with what charges went forward to court and even an interference into what sentences were passed.

“We can’t have a government interfering in police operations. They lied at the time, they said they weren’t interfering, but we now know that they definitely were.”

The rally happened just days after Labour promised in its general election manifesto to support a full investigation into the Battle of Orgreave.

The Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Green Party have all told the BBC this week they supported an inquiry in principle into events at Orgreave.

In 2016, the Conservative government rejected calls for an inquiry, which the then home secretary Amber Rudd said would not be in the “public interest”.

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