by OTJC news release
On 15 December 2015 Home Secretary Theresa May received the compelling evidence compiled by the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) presenting the case for a public inquiry into the policing at Orgreave on 18 June 1984.
Since its creation in November 2012 the OTJC has worked tirelessly to place on the political agenda the urgent need for a public inquiry into key questions about the role of the police that day:
– who ordered the brutal deployment of mounted police armed with truncheons and other police units, some with dogs, against striking miners?
– who decided to charge arrested miners with riot, which carried heavy prison sentences? – why has the operational order for police deployments that day disappeared?
The revelations about the role of the South Yorkshire Police (SYP) in the Hillsborough tragedy, the Inside Out programme of October 2012 highlighting fabricated evidence by SYP against miners charged at Orgreave and the IPPC report of June 2015 indicating support for a wider inquiry into policing at Orgreave are all reasons why OTJC rightly believe that the case for such an inquiry is absolutely solid.
However the new Home Secretary Amber Rudd has now rejected the OTJC’s demand for an inquiry. OTJC Secretary, Barbara Jackson, said, “This decision is deeply disappointing and absolutely unacceptable. It is nearly 32 years since 95 miners were arrested at Orgreave. “Now, some of those miners are dead and the surviving ones face the prospect of several more years before we can get truth and justice. However we are determined people and the OTJC will continue to build wide support for a full, independent public inquiry. We will not give up.”
The OTJC will hold a press conference at 10.00am on Tuesday 1 November at the National Union of Mineworkers, 2 Huddersfield Road Barnsley S70 2LS where we will present our response to Amber Rudd’s decision and outline our plans for the future work of the OTJC.
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