Barry Hines, Orgreave..

Baz my bitterness towards the police, particularly the london cnuts , will go with me to the grave pal, the strike and the aftermath were the defining moments of the industrial 20th century, i fcukin hate them mate, with a passion

i said i'd never piss on a cop if he were on fire, then several years later i gave first aid to a local bobby that had been brayed up, his head was like a busted settee

 

A colleague of mine worked for SYP in the 80s. He has a load of stories about some of the stuff they used to get up to when persuading criminals to confess, etc, but he has only bad things to say about the Met during that time. On one occasion, the Met squads stole the TV from one of the main stations in Sheffield and he had to chase them down the Parkway to stop them to get it back.

So whilst there were problems with the police during and after the strike, a lot of the problems were not SYP but visitors from outside the area who could get away with anything and had no worries about consequences.

That is not to say that SYP hasn't had some very public failings that it should be criticized for. I wasn't at Orgreave, so am not going to comment if it was SYP, Met, Army or anyone else that day, but it *might not all* have been the locals.

 

Whether it was the met or the syp.
Quite ironic that they were crushing the working class for the Tories.
How they squeeled when their pay and pensions were cut a few years ago
The big mistake was always the lack of ballot on the strike.
If this would have been done the all trade union movement and the Labour party could not have been criticised for not supporting the workers struggle.

 

I really think that had there been a ballot something else about the strike would have been illegal. Thatcher wanted the unions crushed and that was that.

 

Absolutely but at least we could have approached the TUC for support

 

Just to clarify your point about the 5 years your not exaggerating as some on here will think.
It was in the best interests of the government police whoever was to arrest as many miners as possible.(Strange some may think)
But when the pickets were charged with obstruction assault breach of the peace etc remember we didn't have money to pay for
defence lawyers.
It was only the serious charges of affray which carries long prison sentences where NUM defended these in courts .
These lawyers told the jury how could this man be causing assault with 60 stitches in the back of his head he is running away .
All these ludicrous charges to my knowledge were thrown out of court.
Back to the minor arrests the bail conditions on release were if they broke they would be arrested and imprisoned .These bail conditions were not to attend another picket line.
Can you imagine facing prison for fighting for your job and kids future .
******* ludicrous and the truth should be made public

 

Yes it’s true about these conditions the judiciary were setting to cull the pickets .
The charges were all mostly thrown out of court but only after the strike had ended.
Many miners remained sacked just for picking coal on British Coal property and some were jailed just for being on a picket line
Lots of these miners haven't worked since that day and there are still campaigns for these men along with the justice for Orgreave campaign .
These men always attend the Durham miners gala and are available to tell their stories and sell merchandise etc as a way to earn a living .

 

I can vouch for that. I knew the Policeman who retrieved the TV. But the story I was told it was both TVs and computer equipment they removed.

 

Ballot arguments. The Yorkshire coalfield had already balloted and the outcome was strike in defence of closing pits on economic grounds. If a national ballot had taken place the Yorkshire region would have struck regardless of the outcome and rightly so. Our pits our communities.