The Sheffield Star prints Orgreave special

News
19.06.2024 07:44

The Sheffield Star produced a special print edition yesterday to mark the fortieth anniversary of what it describes as the most violent conflict in British industrial history.

The “Battle of Orgreave” on 18 June 1984 was a pivotal moment in the miners’ strike of 1984-85. Pickets clashed with police outside the Orgreave coking plant near Rotherham in South Yorkshire.

The scale of the conflict and the bitter consequences reverberate to this day, with campaigners still calling for a public inquiry into the resulting prosecutions.

The Star’s print editor, Charles Smith, went through the photographic archives to prepare a comprehensive 16-page picture of dramatic photos from the day.

Many of the photos were taken by Star photographers in the heat of battle.

The story also made for a dramatic front page that will resonate deeply with South Yorkshire readers, the publishers say.

The paper also contains pictures of Orgreave as it is today and last weekend’s anniversary rally attended by former NUM leader Arthur Scargill.

After the “battle”, more than 70 picketers were charged with rioting – a crime punishable by life in 1984 – and 24 with rioting.

But the trials collapsed when police evidence was deemed “unreliable”.

At the time, the miners’ lawyer Michael Mansfield described it as “the worst example of mass recruitment in this country in this century”.

In June 1991, South Yorkshire Police paid £425,000 in damages to 39 miners for assault, wrongful arrest, unlawful detention and malicious prosecution.

And even now campaigners believe a future Labor government could allow a public inquiry into police actions on the fateful day, editors say.

Stay up to date with publication news: sign up here for InPubWeeklyour free weekly e-newsletter.