The inquiry into the violent policing at Orgreave and prosecutions of 95 miners comes 41 years after the events of 18 June 1984. Campaigning has resumed following a 2012 Guardian article linking the South Yorkshire police's actions to a collapsed trial and the Hillsborough disaster. This led to the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign advocating for an inquiry for 13 years. Key concerns include the police operational plan's confidentiality and accusations of pre-planned police attacks on miners during the strike, which prevented picketing and caused lasting bewilderment among participants.
The revival of campaigning about the Orgreave injustices developed after the Guardian published an article in April 2012 making the link between the South Yorkshire police operation in 1984 and a collapsed trial in 1985.
The BBC in Yorkshire then broadcast a documentary in October 2012, highlighting that dozens of police officers' statements alleging criminal behaviour by miners at Orgreave had the same opening paragraphs, apparently dictated to them by detectives.
The National Union of Mineworkers has always believed the police attacks were pre-planned, kettling miners into a field and deploying strategically positioned mounted officers, dog handlers and units with short shields and truncheons.
During the miners' strike police set up roadblocks across routes to mining areas to prevent people picketing, but many miners who were at Orgreave still talk with bewilderment.
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