Battle of Orgreave campaigners to hand deliver letter to Home Secretary in bid for public inquiryÂ

Battle of Orgreave campaigners are to travel to London tomorrow to hand deliver a letter to the Home Secretary calling for a public inquiry into the violent clash between police officers and miners.
The Battle of OrgreaveThe Battle of Orgreave
The Battle of Orgreave

Tomorrow marks two years to the day that former Home Secretary Amber Rudd refused to order a public inquiry into the riot at the Orgeave coking plant, on the Sheffield-Rotherham border, in June 1984.

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Members of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign want current Home Secretary Sajid Javid to reconsider the decision.

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COURT: '˜They've waited a long time for justice' - South Yorkshire child abuse survivors praised for their bravery The so-called '˜Battle of Orgreave' took place during the 12-month national miners' strike and led to the arrest of 95 miners who were charged but then saw their trials collapse because of unreliable evidence.

CRIME: Postcode gang murder in Sheffield remains unsolved 11 years on kevin Horne, who was arrested at Orgreave, said he suspects the Government is frightened of the '˜truth' emerging.

Campaigners want an inquiry into the police tactics that day, claiming that striking miners were assaulted and arrested on the basis of fabricated police statements.

Last year, once secret files revealed that Margaret Thatcher's government at the time feared a 'witch hunt' if there had been a public inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave.

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The files, which have now been 'declassified' and released into the National Archive, reveal that Leon Brittan, then Home Secretary, told a 1985 meeting that the 'Government should not encourage any form of enquiry into the behaviour of the police'.

He believed an inquiry into picket line tactics during the 1984-85 strike would 'turn into a witch hunt' with an 'anti-police bias', according to the files.

Former miner Mr Horne said: 'It's a disgrace. What are they hiding, and why are they covering up the corruption of the past?  This issue won't go away.' Â