SPEAKING at a public meeting in Barnsley last week, Bridget Bell of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) and former miners’ leader Arthur Scargill called for a public inquiry into events at Orgreave coking plant, which culminated in the infamous Battle of Orgreave.

On June 18 1984 pickets were charged by mounted police and clubbed with truncheons with no provocation and little to protect themselves besides the trainers on their feet and the T-shirts on their backs.

In total, over 90 pickets were arrested — some under arcane and little-used legislation — however, all charges were dropped against those who appeared in court, resulting in South Yorkshire Police being forced to pay out over £500,000 in compensation and legal costs to 39 of those affected.

In 2012 the BBC screened a documentary which uncovered evidence of mass collusion among police officers at South Yorkshire Police over the wording of statements attempting to charge miners with riot.

Despite the use of excessive and brutal force against unarmed pickets and the co-ordination of identical statements, not one single police officer present on that day has ever been disciplined for misconduct.

Following the BBC documentary, South Yorkshire Police referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which then spent two years conducting a “scoping exercise” into events at Orgreave in the summer of 1984.

In June this year, the IPCC announced that there would be no formal inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave due to the length of time that has passed.

The decision was met with outrage among mining communities and further afield, with recent Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham MP stating that South Yorkshire Police had been granted “political cover” over what Michael Mansfield QC has called “the biggest stitch-up ever.”

The OTJC is “determined to get justice for miners who were victims of police lies and cover-ups at Orgreave in June 1984.”

Bell of the OTJC had been active during the ’84-85 strike as part of Women Against Pit Closures.

Speaking at the public meeting last week, Bell expressed concerns over recent MI5 announcements regarding increased surveillance powers, condemning a government which would treat its own citizens as an enemy to be spied upon and manipulated, just as Thatcher’s government had involved the security services in the miners’ dispute.

Scargill returned to the subject of MI5 later during the course of the meeting, suggesting that a number of suspicious events during the strike — including several attempts on his life — could not be seen in isolation from MI5 infiltration of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Scargill also informed the meeting that the NUM had its own “moles,” who had indicated that the Orgreave coking plant would be vulnerable to closure if pickets could cut off supply of coke to this vital strategic location for the steel industry.

Government documents released under the “30-year rule” back up this claim and validate the choice of the Orgreave site as an important and pivotal location for mass picketing.

Scargill’s critics have often accused him of being lured into a trap in targeting Orgreave, by a government intent upon a set-piece battle which would reverse the fortunes of the miners, as the strike in its early months was very close to succeeding.

The evidence that the coking plant was on the verge of closure during the summer of 1984 proves that, far from being lured into a trap, the miners’ leader had made a calculated decision to focus picketing on a site which had the potential for victory — a victory which, if it came, would have been on a par with the closure of Saltley Gates in Birmingham in 1972, when the miners had been supported by thousands of trade unionists in an unrivalled display of solidarity which forced the government to back down in the face of huge working-class strength.

Thatcher often claimed that the significance of the closure of Saltley Gates was not lost on her, and by June 1984 she was no doubt terrified that working-class solidarity, which she so loathed, would be her undoing.

Naming those he felt were directly responsible for the paramilitary force used at Orgreave, Scargill told the meeting that Thatcher, Leon Brittan and former ministers Peter Walker and Norman Tebbit were deeply involved behind the scenes during the strike, employing any tactics that they felt necessary to defeat the miners.

For Scargill, the IPCC’s decision not to hold a formal inquiry into Orgreave is a continuation of these same tactics, with the state being used as a weapon against its own people.

“The decision of the IPCC demonstrates that they are an instrument of the Establishment, and I have nothing but contempt for what they’ve done or, more importantly, what they haven’t done.”

Bell urged those in attendance to submit motions to their trade unions, local councils and political parties, calling for a full public inquiry after the IPCC let South Yorkshire Police off the hook.

Recalling a rally in London for the OTJC, Bell remarked upon the huge positive involvement of younger people, many of whom would not yet have been born during the ’84-85 strike.

Activists from Occupy, the anti-bedroom tax movement and social housing campaigners have all lent their support to the OTJC, which continues to gather momentum.

The day prior to the public meeting in Barnsley, a motion was passed by Rotherham Council demanding that South Yorkshire Police apologise for misconduct at Orgreave.

Bell told those gathered in Barnsley that the miners’ struggle remains a beacon of hope for younger generations facing injustice, as proof that defeat does not have to be conceded and resistance is possible.

Advocating resistance in explaining his stance on the new anti-union laws, Scargill was as defiant and inspirational as ever as he declared: “Defy that which is wrong, and fight for that which is right … when confronted with unjust laws, refuse to comply.”