The Battle of Orgreave was one of the bloodiest clashes in the history of industrial disputes , and while 40 years may have passed since striking miners were savagely battered by an army of police, their wounds remain wide open. Many have been left mentally scarred by the traumatic events of June 18, 1984, when a peaceful picket turned into a bloodbath. And those who were on the receiving end of the police brutality remember their horrific experiences like it was yesterday.
It was a beautiful day, three months into the strike, when pickets answered a call to attend Orgreave coking works near Sheffield, hoping to stop steel production and put pressure on the Tory government. Miners, who have spent years trying to get an inquiry into the pitched battles which left more than 100 pickets and police injured, believe they had walked into a trap set by senior officers and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet in a bid to force them to break the strike. Around 5,000 of them faced 6,000 officers, many in riot gear, and there were 95 arrests.
Former pickets told the Mirror about their ordeals as they prepared for a rally today in Sheffield, organised by Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. One, Patrick McCarroll, 62, said of the rampaging police: “It was like they wanted to kill us, honestly that’s the feeling. I can still hear the hoofs.
I escaped but I could see people injured big time. Every second person you saw had a burst head.” Patrick also told how he heard o.
