The Battle of Orgreave - Raw Footage Captures Pivotal Moment of Miners' Strike (1984)

[@slk290]

If we only new how bad this was gonna turn out for the Miner's and British industry as a whole........

[@jamesduffy9946]

Men fighting for their jobs

[@jasonparfitt5936]

Mate the coal was costing more to get up than it’s sale price.Sadly it was not cost effective at the time.

[@nickhorten97]

Jobs that had been put in jeopardy by trade union militancy.

[@haydenskilton]

They were fighting to stop other people from working , work that other people wanted to do.

[@martinhazlehurst1843]

All funded by the USSR….somethings never change.

[@charliebear1436]

@@Ru5tY87 And Ed Miliband

[@marksteven6116]

coal not dole ,now we have the most expensive energy in the world and all our jobs went to china

[@Willsey]

And do you expect Labour to reopen the mines. They hate coal. And working class people

[@poorpoora]

There are many jobs everywhere.

[@marksteven6116]

@@poorpoora low paid

[@poorpoora]

@@marksteven6116 So get two jobs

[@oliverearnshaw6189]

@@poorpoorayeah low paid unskilled jobs

[@StephenKing-ee5nn]

This is how the British establishment react to the working class when they don't do as they're told. It's called a police state. Seems familiar?

[@JamesT65]

Nothing to do with that Thatcher went to war with the unions and broke them.

[@JI7NKJ]

@@JamesT65 OC spot on.

[@Paul-eb4jp]

I remembered news reports saying how brave the Police were, the truth is they could do what they wanted while making a fortune in overtime payments.

[@JJVernig]

They are unionized as well...

[@kevinwilson598]

The police waited in vans for any unexpected miner walking home from a meeting and laid into them

[@Coolerman565]

Thatcher's Goon squad on full display.

[@MicksterEll]

You mean the Democratically Elected PM?, who elected Scargill to try and run the Country? He was a puppet for a very extreme bunch of people that wanted to destabilise the UK. They just miscalculated the iron will of the Iron Lady

[@JI7NKJ]

Dance for any paymaster, nothings changed.

[@yetidodger6650]

ITN were caught out playing footage the wrong way around, they pretended the stone throwing happened then the police charged in response but it was the other way.

[@Coolerman565]

That's the tame main stream media for you nothing ha changed to this day, in fact they are worse now than ever.

[@Andrew-m5p4s]

Helmets and batons against unarmed men.

[@Willsey]

They only had lumps of concrete and stones

[@allanbyallas7546]

@@Andrew-m5p4s that’s right all the unarmed miners were just peacefully demonstrating singing Kumbya! Never any violence on their part. 🙄

[@Andrew-m5p4s]

@@allanbyallas7546 of course a percentage of the miners used violence but they were going to get a hiding anyway. Also in one instance the police on horses charged the miners and the miners charge back but the BBC turned the footage around to make it look like the miners charged first

[@allanbyallas7546]

@@Andrew-m5p4s ‘so they were violent because they were going to get a kicking anyway’ ….. that’s your justification. Give me a break. There was fault on both sides … except miners won’t ever admit it. I also remember coppers sharing their food with miners, they were that hungry. Funny how that’s never mentioned. It’s always the poor miners and the evil cops.

[@Andrew-m5p4s]

@@allanbyallas7546 no that's not what I've just said .

[@stevelinzell4158]

The Day that the UK changed forever 😢

[@Ian20232]

This was a pre planned attack from the police and high up in the government. Miners were mostly turned away from picket lines. But orgreave was different they were all herded in by the police and attacked as in the footage. The police goaded the miners to retaliate. Why did the police bring out long shields when the crowd was totally calm and compliant. The strikes had been going on for a long time and the government and police wanted to teach the miners a lesson and make them break the strike.

[@Mick-h7i]

See they cut the police brutality out..Will always remember that copper who was hitting anyone he could and got dropped with a flying kick and a punch..Never forget that..Yorkshire men stand and fight for their jobs unlike Nottingham lads..

[@stephenholmes1036]

Watch the film from the other side

[@craiggreensmith3798]

Stephenholmes1036,what other side? Don't you dare try and shift blame on the miners..

[@Mick-h7i]

@@stephenholmes1036 Will that be footage of them bragging about all the overtime and holding the £10 up in the air at the miners on the picket lines..No thanks we know the real truth and don’t need to watch some manufactured propaganda fake film..

[@stephenholmes1036]

The film from.the miners side showing the met belting everyone so dont threaten me sunny jim We had family in the east Kent coalfields and I'm old enough to remember it well

[@allanbyallas7546]

Selective memory here pal…. As usual from the miners side. I remember many miners dishing out violence on many occasions. There was fault on both sides. I also remember coppers sharing food with miners who were very hard up and playing football…. Until the TV cameras turned up.

[@BarManFesteiro]

they even had the cav on the flanks, biggest Total War roleplay event ever

[@npickle54]

lol

[@martg1971]

Military for sure,the banging of the shields was a military tactic in Northern Irelands troubles

[@reverendpickles]

My Grandfather turned the phone lines back on , i was about nine years old - BT back then was known as the GPO. I was in the van with him at the time, Van nearly got pushed over. Soon as my grandfather got out of the van and explained we went to help the miners made a way for us . Police were far too heavy handed against good people. it was wrong!

[@Coolerman565]

Well that is how Countries sleep walk into a police state.

[@kenjones29]

they should have had a Palestinian flag, the police wouldn't have attacked then

[@jacksonpauljackson2557]

This why no one has any respect for the ploice biggest thugs going 😮

[@kenjones29]

all bastard cowards

[@nottmfunguy]

South Yorkshire police, with backup from the met police the ones with the baton's and hatred in their blood. I didn't agree with Scargill, I lived in Notts, but seeing heads being bashed in by some crazed coppers was sickening. They never showed the worse in this footage.

[@gookazade1]

They also put army lads in police uniforms with no numbers on.

[@nottmfunguy]

@@gookazade1 Yes I heard the rumour of that. However my brother was in the army back then, he said he had not heard about it. He was in NI and it was rumoured they were bring troops in straight from there.

[@TheBlueCream]

Aye...the beggars did strike the brave lads down

[@Jezza-m5k]

Just imagine what they are able to do now with dissenters? We are slaves... but we know it, right?

[@joysboy6588]

I remember being fascinated by this as kid (6 years old back then). Constantly watching it every night & with my Dad on the news. Obviously, I didn't understand what it was ALL about. However & being much older now, it's scary to look and THINK how easily & IF you/we are NOT careful, how the society can be (quite literally) ripped apart. I don't think it's an exaggeration to claim, that was (more or less) civil war. On one side, white, working class, indigenous English males, fighting tooth & nail for their homes, wives, kids, lifestyle & of course, jobs. While on the side, white, working class, indigenous English males, BEING PAID, to wear a uniform/represent the state to beat down their fellow man, only fighting for what those in uniforms ALREADY had (& unlike these miners) safeguarded, i.e. their homes, wives, kids, lifestyle & of course, their jobs. Look at the state of the country NOW. Never forget, we are NOT the minority. They are. They ALL should have stuck TOGETHER. Look at the state of our country NOW😥

[@cujimmi]

Sorry but you're wrong...I was 13 back then my dad was a miner ( think billy Elliott without the ballet) did you know the miners weren't given a ballot on strike action? Scargill used the miners ( people like my dad) to further his own political ambition...I hate him .. I'll drink a toast when that bastard dies

[@mickymouse1232]

I NOTICED SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FOOTAGE THERE WAS VERY FEW OF THEM ADVERT PEOPLE IN ANY OF THIS . I GUESS THE MINE CLOSURES WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR ENGLAND -- 1984 .

[@cluckingbells]

In 35 minutes of video you never showed the coach loads of miners who wanted to work and for which the flying-pickets were trying to stop. The NUM should have had a strike ballot, and if they had won it they could have released strike pay to its members. Instead those that were striking were left with no money from being able to work and no strike pay from the trade union. I blame Scargill.

[@paulmclean6613]

People like scargill aren't that stupid by chance ...its by design!!

[@Coolerman565]

Of course you do that lets you off the hook, do you think if a ballot had gone Scargills way those quislings in Nottingham would have gone along with it? they sided with the State and Thatcher against other workers, where did it get them? where the hell is Roy Link these days if he is still alive?

[@JohnnySmith.]

I'm from Yorkshire .We didn't play cops n robbers as kids in the 80's,we played cops n miners. Seriously. Edit: Trouble is,we all wanted to be miners!

[@gavinthomas7375]

You were😂

[@scottjoseph9821]

Fair play to the miners for standing up for them selfs

[@JohnnySmith.]

@@gavinthomas7375 Nice one,ive sorted that.😉

[@Waterford1992]

Awful times those days were before barber shops were invented

[@malcolmmitchell6529]

As opposed to the pudding basin look of nowadays, the victoriana workhouse look.

[@daveberry2177]

we got 14 Turkish ones in our small town as opposed to the 3 that used to service the local community

[@TomHawks-k8l]

​@daveberry2177 🫵

[@Suttisan78]

One of my SAS friends was involved in this, the SAS were tasked with turning public opinion against the miners by mixing with them and attacking the police.

[@version736ha2]

Didnt Scargill make the hit by a shield story up?

[@upyaronson]

and im sure he used miners funds for imself

[@version736ha2]

@upyaronson it's been proven that.

[@jasonparfitt5936]

Scargill was a turn coat ,when the going got tough he got going along way a way

[@nealbeard1]

Yes a nice apartment on The South Bank

[@wind.del.change]

no

[@bcarroll7317]

Not a black face in sight. Must’ve been their day off.

[@Tibor860]

Workers couldn't have the same colour as coal for safety reasons

[@antstead2329]

More football hooligans than miners headed over there that day from my old town though many turned back. A few who got through came back with tales of woe and were bitter for years though one I see now and then just says today shrugs and says ''it was just what it was'. Funnily enough a pal of mine who I met here in the South some years ago says he his father was a Sergeant there that day and the old man told him he was trying to calm his group down in the van as the adrenaline was pumping knowing a big scrap was coming. Mad times. On a side issue, I remember the trade vans from out of town that popped up in various terraces at different times of day and night and they were a give away that they were keep an eye out for the scabs who were under threat in the area. Needed too as a couple who foolishly went out for a pint one night were hospitalised before they got chance to get to another boozer.

[@SuomiBrit-q6d]

I used to live next door to a copper, who boasted how much overtime he was paid during the miner's strike. Shameful.

[@PeterMurphyceltic]

Why we still hate Thatcher

[@gtan431]

...funny you say that, as a military veteran of 30 year's and serving at the time, we loved Maggie... she stood up for us, stood up for the Country and dragged it into the 21st Century.

[@Paul-eb4jp]

​@gtan431 Funny you say that because she was a witch.

[@coops1964]

No we don’t your Celtic reference indicates your loyalty.

[@paolodechipiece1027]

​@@gtan431 try reading the knott review of 1981! The Falklands war can be attributed to thatchers decisions and how many UK servicemen lost their lives as a result. Not to mention the material loss.

[@JohnSmith-ei2pz]

@@gtan431 We never loved her in the raf, that cu nt killed all the lads in the falklands for political gain!

[@peterchilds7176]

The police looked Like police, not the military junta they are today.

[@richrichie378]

Oppressive times.. by state authorities but the unions played their part in oppressing other individuals free will , so they also acted like the mob

[@hiramabiff2017]

The unions having us live by candlelight at nights & holding the country to ransom with electricity cuts and the end of the historic coal industry as the reliance on fossil fuels and mining was diminished was a bitter pill to swallow for many. But the old Union grip on the country had choked the life out of us for too long and a changing world meant harsh changes at home.

[@neilgraves5069]

To save jobs and preserve small mining communities . Thats worth fighting for 👊

[@bremnersghost948]

Britain still relies on Fossil Fuels but now we have to Import them.

[@hiramabiff2017]

@@neilgraves5069 You mean keep open loss making mines that were becoming obsolete and costing the country £millions. This was the 1980's not 1880's and like all communities up and down the country you had to change like the rest of us. We all have nostalgia about how things were, your not special in that.

[@David-rv6dn]

​@@hiramabiff2017 No he means from Thatcher importing cheap coal from Poland and destroying English industry remember it was the time of the yuppie and all she cared about was her Tory kronies getting even richer

[@duncanfyfe485]

@@hiramabiff2017 Like using close to a trillion Pounds of taxpayer money to bail out the otherwise bankrupt financial sector in 2008, eh? Apparently there's always plenty of money when the Rich need it. Thatcher/Blair-ism destroyed industry coz it produced reasonably well-paid work for millions, and through that powerful Trades Unions who could stand up to a ruling class. Replaced it with the service sector, a money making scam for the Rich, and nothing more. And today, North sea oil is finished, it's revenues wasted. 45 years of 'efficiency' and austerity and look at the state of things.

[@CotruliaGallery]

I remember Thatcher sent police helicopters to stop a party in a field.

[@deepdiver51]

What do you think the current government (and others preceding them) would have done about the country continuing to use coal powered power stations? The eco warriors would have been incandescent and would have demanded to closure of all such power stations and coal mines supplying them.

[@bremnersghost948]

There is only 1 CFPP left in England and that is about to close down and we have no more Deep Coal Mines. The Green Gremlins and their paymasters in China & Russia have finally got what they wanted, a Britain unable to Power itself or make its own Steel!

[@davidcole2899]

I often wonder how many coppers would now say I was at that party complete tw#ts

[@Baphomet23]

No water I can see. Those policemen must've been suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration by the end of the day.

[@nealbeard1]

The overtime payments more than made up for momentary discomfort

[@susanmoriarty7533]

Where are they now ?

[@andrewjenery1783]

Remember this like it was yesterday.

[@robertlocke793]

the charge of the shite brigade

[@douglaswalker6823]

This is when Thatcher turned citizen against citizen , police against miner.

[@stevenwrathall6016]

Goon squad(from the royal Dragoon's)nothing has changed in 40 years.Sad.

[@theripper4254]

Last use of a cavalry charge ? Canne recall.

[@totallyskint5899]

A friend of mine was in the Army. He was put in a Police uniform.

[@davidwilliamson9162]

All the police in this now your heads in shame !

[@sonsofthesilentage994]

The beginning of the end

[@jeanmariefagon]

Too depressing to watch. Thatcher, can we talk? No, I have decided to repress you. Sooo depressing.

[@shubr66]

And as for the Rotherham lot , you should have been protecting others closer to home !

[@johnwaller4033]

This is well cut I remember being held by old miners that the police was the thugs miners today hate what went off and still bare grudges

[@AAAA88927]

I remember when they laid us off from next. Kicked off big STYLE

[@neiljohnson5285]

“They’re trying to get to these people lawfully working” They were fighting for their jobs too, which have now all gone.

[@StvRdhll]

A job is a privilege, not a right. If you are inefficient, expensive or have a bad attitude to your employer, why do you expect to keep your job?

[@duncanfyfe485]

Brutal and criminal policing, and the disgusting bias of 'embedded' journalists. Some things never change.

[@pinkgirlgaminghappypink697]

there no such place as the village of Orgreave it was Catcliffle

[@andybebbington7283]

All British men , when we was proud of Britain 🇬🇧

[@antonioduarte2795]

The days when there was order.

[@paintingholidayitaly]

Witness the violence inherent in the system.

[@ibelongtojesus0316]

All this while, I thought only the police in India fought with sticks.

[@AAAA88927]

How much redundancy pay did they get

[@stokegaz1069]

Helmets, shields and battons with collars and ties, against unarmed working men protecting their livelihoods.

[@RB-jq6gh]

Productive negotiations around the table eh?.

[@tyrusflare9022]

Now they are fighting to not have a job.

[@guyshaw2914]

We were only fighting for our jobs. Why does the police behave like that today against them marching in London

[@jon6815]

Hard working men allowed themselves to be led by cynical self serving rabble rousers and destroyed the very industry they wanted to continue to be employed in.

[@version736ha2]

The inconvenient truth

[@chrisholland7367]

Those men were fighting for their very exsistantce number communities. Thousands of jobs were lost in Scotland, Wales, the North of England and in Kent. Were not just talking about pit closers but about families suffering because the main bread winner is has now lost his job . There also the issue of the suppliers and the local shops that no longer existed once these mines were closed. Today Tata Steel ceased producing steel as they closed their doors to over a 100 years of steel production at Port Talbort shedding some 2 and half thousand jobs how are going to cope trying to find work, how are they going to feed their families with no money coming in. Now increase that number many times you may have an idea how many miners this affected. The Thatcher government closed these pits down because it was decided that it was cheaper to by coal from abroad to power the industries that relied on it. Funny that 40 years down the line the UK and other European countries have relied on imported fuel from countries such as Russia. Bills for domestic and businesses fuel have soared . By the way Thatcher was using the police as an instrument of the state. It's also been alleged that some of those police officers were members of the British Army and suggestions of MI5 involvement. All this state control to crush miners at any cost. On Netflix at moment there is a good documentary about Orgrave from the perspective of the police and the miners.

[@jon6815]

@@chrisholland7367 You lie and obfuscate as much as you like but we remember the miners who murdered a taxi driver by dropping a rock on his vehicle because they thought he was carrying a non striking miner. The police were working to protect society from such violence and that is a good thing - miners who thought they could maim and murder other people just to keep their jobs.

[@duncanfyfe485]

err.. do you know anything about this? That 'very industry' was being closed down. For most of those men there was no long-term prospect of future employment. Were these 'hard working men' supposed to just sheepishly give up and go home? You actually want a society of snowflakes?

[@jon6815]

@@duncanfyfe485 what exactly was the point of striking if they knew it was going to be closed down?

[@bouse23]

back when the coppers were big hard blokes not like now

[@DavidUKesb]

Midgets and fatties now, and those who aren't are mostly radicalised.

[@Coolerman565]

Well we want them to be law abiding big hard blokes and not some South American Fascist goon squad.

[@evie-roseclayton158]

Thatcher had soldiers there in police uniforms

[@geo.m1639]

Cavalry charge was badass

[@commenttroller1987]

What time

[@roguetrader33]

cringelord

[@stevenmoses5807]

This is when the police lost all faith and respect from the public. And not a single one has done anything to try and gain any of it back

[@jamesthompson6673]

Ventress was there

[@lordel_tone1385]

I was ten years old when this happened, unforgivable IMHO...😢

[@wavydavy9816]

Snap 🤗

[@MatthewLangsley]

Aye, me too. Had lived until the previous year just a few miles north of there in Rotherham and by 1984 had moved to Sheffield a few miles to the west and then home to the seat of "King Arthur's" NUM. I was only ten, but I too remember the scenes on TV. Just as shameful was the speed at which the colliery and the coking works at Orgreave (hence the British Steel Scunthorpe reference on one of the signs shown, Sheffield's steel industry having long since died...) were not just shut down but entirely wiped from the map. The valley was soon flooded to make what was then called the Rother Valley Park for water sports, the land re-landscaped and the area renamed Waverley. Way to erase the collective memory, I suppose! If you went there today, you wouldn't have the slightest idea, but there are a few intrepid KZbinrs who have been there in recent years and have pieced together at least some of the puzzle, hidden paths and still-standing bridges and all. All grieve for Orgreave.

[@paulmclean6613]

At the start of the strike ,arthur scargill - small house big union ! End of strike small union large townhouse in london !!! C,mon youre not daft !

[@clivebonneywell6967]

This push back wouldnt happen today everyone only got one hand the other holding a phone filming

[@isaacdepaula2103]

Most passive riot police I've seen, the only ones doing something was the cavalry

[@stephendallison1465]

A lot of those in uniform were armed forces, i know first hand as my band played a gig at the time at forest town welfare where loads of them came in to a room changed uniform and another lot went in put uniforms on and went out to picket line, PS not all notts miners were scabs

[@chr668]

bet burglars and shop lifters had a great day this day while syp was keeping watch on the miners

[@duncanmclean6416]

Complete disgrace

[@TonyDennett-q8g]

Live by magull , liverpool ask the local retired police man how he paid his morgage off

[@W2xyz66]

Never forget 30p lee Anderson was not there and wasn't shouting about two tier policing.

[@johnwaller4033]

Are you for real he's not that old is he

[@johnwaller4033]

Just looked he was only 16

[@TomTremayne]

Yes, but what's never been explained, & wasn't at the time, is why is the battle taking place where it is? I know the backdrop was the miner's strike etc (a noble cause) but why are all those men on a piece of wasteland with hundreds of police facing them? We usually saw pickets blocking gates but here, traffic was moving....so why are they in some damn field & then later on in a housing estate......no where near any gates? Also, why is there cars that have been mechanically cut in half & one (the white Escort) with all its windows perfectly removed, not smashed, removed? I don't understand some of this footage.

[@mtomlin666]

Don't be silly 😂...the miners are on strike and scabs are doing there work and they're protesting against exactly that..the coal you see leaving was excavated by scabs

[@TomTremayne]

@@mtomlin666 I know all that, I know about the political background & am with you 100% regarding it....what I don't understand is the geographical layout of the protest that day & the thing about the cars.

[@bremnersghost948]

Orgreave Coke Works was the single biggest supplier to the Steel Industry in Sheffield, Can't make high grade Steel without Coke. Why the Police chose there to make an example is a good question, IMO due to the closeness of the M1 so they could easily bring in reinforcements.

[@TomTremayne]

@@bremnersghost948 At last, someone with something intelligent to say about the geography & likelihood of it all............thank you bremnersghost, you're a credit to yourself, to youtube and to your location. I shall research what you've said.

[@mtomlin666]

@@TomTremayne ✌

[@alfredroyal3473]

Lady Thatcher 1 Scargill 0. Where are all the ‘coal not dole’ marchers now? All green now, opposing the opening of new coal mines.

[@richardwilliams8697]

I'm so sorry for you miners I'm a x coal miner I have the miners workers pension and they take it out of your state pension 😢😢😢

[@kevinmacpherson3084]

Why arnt the police using these tactics today against flag waving terrorist.. These miners wanted to work for there country, terrorist hate the country.. Englishman against Englishman...it's a sick world.

[@richyhigg3042]

When men where men

[@johncaven8170]

They couldn't do a lot because they were in open ground that's why the police forced them back into the built up area so that they could have them for affray on arrest.

[@thomaschinn6344]

no two tier policing

[@wendyholland2339]

Real police not like todays

[@steveg2479]

Police state, but to be fair, Scargill was a prick.

[@oilyrag7429]

Maggie’s Army

[@ScottFisher-tb2yh]

Police used to serve the rich and the politicians.

[@Capnglogs]

Just what Thatcher wanted

[@senianns9522]

The 'Communist' King Arthur! Playing for the cameras!

[@AndrewDaley-lr9qg]

Very carefully edited footage the police were brutal if thee got you down. And so were the miners with the police I don't blame them after what the police did to them.

[@CianWard-w7b]

romans vs gauls

[@Baphomet23]

I thought so too.

[@robertmoreland2638]

Kier Starmer is Margaret Thatcher. 🤬

[@David-rv6dn]

Pigs counting 1-2 shocked me didn't think they could count that high

[@simondaly4064]

Maggies Boot Boys!!!

[@PolioHamchild]

Bacon.

[@tyrusflare9022]

Classic hatred of working class men

[@jasonparfitt5936]

My mates father was a copper that day.( met police) And the police ( snatch squads) took no crap.They we’re brutal,even to the extent that he was shocked ,any waifs and strays who became parted from the main crowd were arrested and dealt with “ appropriately “ according to him.

[@johnross2924]

I bet you were ashamed of him!

[@jasonparfitt5936]

@@johnross2924 not really.

[@paulmcgrath3248]

Thatcher s political policing

[@zippydoodah1547]

The miners should of changed their name to gaza may have got more support from the south. The witch is dead

[@paulmclean6613]

Arthur scargill MI5 agent !

[@AAAA88927]

Great thorburg loves thacther