YP Letters: Hypocrisy of linking Orgreave and Hillsborough

From: David Downs, Sandal, Wakefield.
Calls for a public inquiry into the 'Battle of Orgreave' have received a mixed reaction.Calls for a public inquiry into the 'Battle of Orgreave' have received a mixed reaction.
Calls for a public inquiry into the 'Battle of Orgreave' have received a mixed reaction.

I AM in total disagreement with your Editorial (The Yorkshire Post, September 15) effectively supporting leading hypocrite Labour MP Andy Burnham’s request for a public inquiry into the police actions in the so-called “Battle of Orgreave”.

Orgreave cannot in any way be compared with the events of Hillsborough, where 96 people were killed; there were no fatalities at Orgreave. The reason for the Hillsborough inquiry was a result of the police’s criminal attempt to cover up their mistakes in controlling the Hillsborough crowds; the past integrity of the South Yorkshire Police has therefore already been established and satisfied.

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The events at Orgreave were the result of Arthur Scargill and his few cronies forcing the miners into a strike without a vote. Any public inquiry into any events arising out of the Miners’ Strike should be into how Arthur Scargill used the miners in an attempt to bring down the government of the day to progress his own political ambitions, and how he destroyed the NUM. If there is any criticism to be made against the police at Orgreave, it was the decision to introduce officers from the South and London, who had no empathy with – or understanding of – Northern mining communities.