More than 1,000 voices were raised yesterday to demand the truth behind one of the most savage acts of state violence against British working people in living memory — Orgreave.

Crowds gathered on Saturday to mark the anniversary of June 18 1984 when thousands of police brutally attacked striking miners who had been picketing Orgreave cokeworks in South Yorkshire.

Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign secretary Barbara Jackson, whose group is pushing for a public inquiry into what happened, said: “People have got behind this campaign in every possible way. They have donated money, expertise, time.

“We started 18 months ago in Sheffield and look where we are now. Who would have thought we could put on this major gathering today?”

An estimated 1,500 people attended the event held in a community park adjacent to the site of the atrocity.

South Yorkshire Police, which oversaw the Orgreave attack, has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission which has spent 18 months on a “scoping exercise” into whether or not it will investigate.

The delay has prompted protests at its offices in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Ms Jackson vowed that whatever the delay, the campaign would go on.

“We are at the bottom of a mountain and we need all your support to push us to the top,” she said.

Saturday’s event, which attracted many families, had a carnival atmosphere. As the speeches ended children released 93 helium-filled balloons, each representing one of the 93 pickets who were controversially charged with riot and later cleared.

Ms Jackson related real incidents of police brutality at Orgreave, including one picket from Nottinghamshire who was pinned down by two officers as a third rained down blows with his baton.

She said: “An inspector came up and said: ‘That’s enough, you’ll kill him’.” 

The semi-conscious miner was dragged away and they cleaned off his blood before they photographed him,” she added.

The crowd heard rousing speeches from other campaigners demanding a public inquiry.

Barrister Michael Mansfield QC called for a new wave of political and direct action outside the confines of Establishment political parties, mentioning the Occupy movement.

“We have the most corrupt democracy in the world,” he said. “Not in the sense of finance, though that is close — cash for questions, cash for access, the way in which they dissassemble the NHS, legal aid, they attack the vulnerable.

“We have to make a move towards changing the system.”

He urged the crowds to “take away the spirit of 1984” — to fight back.