UK will hold inquiry into violent Orgeave clash between police and miners during bitter 1984 strike
Some 120 miners and police were hurt when officers clashed with miners trying to stop trucks entering the Orgreave Coking Plant in northern England on June 18, 1984. It came three months into a nationwide strike over plans to close two dozen coal pits and lay of 20,000 miners.
The bitter dispute between the National Union of Mineworkers and the government was a decisive moment in Thatcher's bid to break the power of trade unions and remake the U.K. economy along free-market lines. The strike ended in defeat for the miners after a year and hastened the end of British coal mining, which employed 180,000 people at the start of the strike. Today, no coal mines remain.
Campaigners have long called for an inquiry into why police from across the country were sent to Orgreave and what their orders were. Images of mounted police in riot gear charging stone-throwing miners with truncheons and dogs shocked and divided the nation.
Some 95 picketers were arrested and charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence from the police was discredited.
The Home Office said the inquiry will be led by Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, and start in the fall. It will have the power to compel witnesses to testify under oath.
Kate Flannery, secretary of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, said the announcement of an inquiry was 'really positive news.' She said it must be given 'unrestricted access to all relevant information including government, police and media documents, photos and films.'
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the events at Orgreave 'cast a shadow over communities in Yorkshire and other mining areas.
'The violent scenes and subsequent prosecutions raised concerns that have been left unanswered for decades, and we must now establish what happened,' she said.
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Vancouver Sun
27 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
Should Canadians who fought in Afghanistan be considered for the Victoria Cross? One MP thinks so
OTTAWA — A petition sponsored by a Liberal MP is reviving calls for a fresh look at whether veterans of the Afghanistan conflict should be reconsidered for Canada's top military honour. Liberal MP Pauline Rochefort is sponsoring a new petition in Parliament. It calls for the creation of an 'Independent Military Honours Review Board to review Afghanistan veterans' cases' to determine whether any of them meet the bar for the Victoria Cross. The federal government says the Victoria Cross is reserved for soldiers who demonstrate 'the most conspicuous bravery, a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty, in the presence of the enemy.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The medal was created in 1993 by the Mulroney government to replace the British Victoria Cross. Twenty have been minted and are held at Rideau Hall. None have been awarded. Rochefort is MP for Nipissing-Timiskaming, which was home to the late Jess Larochelle, an army private whose actions under fire in Pashmul, Afghanistan, in 2006 have inspired a movement to award him a posthumous Victoria Cross. Larochelle was among 10 veterans the National Post profiled in a series last year called Heroes Among Us that proposed first-ever recipients of the medal. Rochefort said it seems like the right time to make this renewed push, as the federal government moves to reinvest in the military and boost recruitment. 'HR gurus will tell us the first thing you must do is appreciate your personnel because if you don't, they're not going to stay. So, if we want to attract young people to our military and qualified personnel, the first thing we must do is to show appreciation,' she told The Canadian Press. 'When you have a significant component of the people that have been there, who have fought there, 40,000 of them, and they're saying, 'We're not sufficiently recognized,' I think that that's something to be paid attention to.' Retired corporal Bruce Moncur, who started the petition, is part of a group called Valor in the Presence of the Enemy. He said his group has identified roughly three dozen soldiers it believes could stand for the medal. He said Larochelle's story stands out as a shining example due to the courage it took to hold off a Taliban attack on an observation post while badly wounded. 'I like to think that there's four parts to it — you changed the course of the battle, you saved lives, you're killed or wounded, and you did an incredible act of bravery. In my books, Jess clicks all those boxes,' Moncur said. 'What Jess did that day was nothing short of superhero.' Retired lieutenant-general Omer Lavoie, who led the counterattack that day and wrote a citation for Larochelle, remembers well what happened when the platoon came under fire. 'Two soldiers were killed almost immediately based on explosions from the rocket-propelled grenades,' he said. Larochelle was struck with shrapnel in the back and neck as he defended the strategic position. He remained in his position with a broken back, firing handheld rocket launchers and a machine-gun at the attacking insurgents. 'There's no doubt in my mind, having seen it first hand, that his immediate actions, fighting while being wounded, certainly cracked the momentum of that Taliban attack and bought us time to counterattack,' Lavoie said. 'Incredibly, he did this while being pretty seriously wounded.' Larochelle was awarded the Canadian military's second-highest honour, the Star of Military Valour, in 2007. He died in 2023 at age 40. Moncur pushed in 2021 for a review of Larochelle's actions. He said he wants to press the case for a wider review under Prime Minister Mark Carney's government. He said Ottawa should consider new evidence indicating that Larochelle had volunteered for the assignment. 'They knew an attack was coming and he put his hand forward and volunteered to man that observation post instead of being ordered to man it,' he said. 'So, that is just a perfect recipe for a Victoria Cross and I don't think anybody could convince me otherwise.' A motion by former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole in 2022 sought to press the government to launch a military honours review panel. It failed in the House of Commons when Liberals opposed it. 'The continued inaction on this issue by the Liberal government speaks for itself and veterans are fed up,' Conservative veterans affairs critic Blake Richards said in an emailed statement. 'Conservatives will continue to advance the case for Jess Larochelle to be awarded the Victoria Cross and will always stand with Canada's veterans to ensure that our heroes and their sacrifice for our country are not forgotten.' The Department of National Defence did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. Ottawa has said that the system for awarding national honours is designed to be insulated from political influence and public pressure campaigns. 'To ensure fairness and that honours were awarded according to the appropriate criteria, National Defence conducted an in-depth review in 2012 of all of the 20 Stars of Military Valour that were awarded in relation to the Afghanistan campaign,' said a government response to a previous petition effort on Aug. 17, 2022. 'The review committee found that the process was fair and consistent, that none should have received a different decoration, and that all awards respected the intent and criteria for the Star of Military Valour.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
The Province
an hour ago
- The Province
Washington at the centre of a Trump maelstrom as National Guard troops arrive
For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement Published Aug 12, 2025 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 5 minute read National Guard troops arrive at the District of Columbia National Guard Headquarters, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, in Washington. Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP WASHINGTON (AP) — The questions came fast to the mayor of the nation's capital, many of them designed to get her to say something harsh about Donald Trump — in particular, the president's freshly announced plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and call in the National Guard. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors But, for the most part, third-term Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser didn't take the bait. She calmly laid out the city's case that crime has been dropping steadily and said Trump's perceived state of emergency simply doesn't match the numbers. She also flatly stated that the capital city's hands are tied and that her administration has little choice but to comply. 'We could contest that,' she said of Trump's definition of a crime emergency, 'but his authority is pretty broad.' Her comments came Monday hours after Trump, flanked by the people who oversee the military and the Justice Department, said that in the hopes of reducing crime he would be taking over Washington's police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard, some of whom arrived early Tuesday. The crime Trump talked about is the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a news conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2025. Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images Toward the end, the mayoral composure slipped a bit when Bowser made a reference to Trump's 'so-called emergency' and concluded, 'I'm going to work every day to make sure it's not a complete disaster.' The city and Trump have had a bumpy relationship While Trump invokes his plan by saying that 'we're going to take our capital back,' Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50 per cent in 2024, and are down again this year. More than half of those arrested, however, are juveniles, and the extent of those punishments is a point of contention for the Trump administration. Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasizing common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives had evolved. Local residents rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to activiate federal law enforcement in Washington, DC, on Aug. 11, 2025. Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Trump has followed through on months of what many D.C. officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her longtime critics. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It's a power play and we're an easy target,' said Clinique Chapman, CEO of the D.C. Justice Lab. A frequent critic of Bowser, whom she accuses of 'over policing our youth' with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Chapman said Trump's latest move 'is not about creating a safer D.C. It's just about power.' Where the power actually lies Bowser contends that all of the power resides with Trump, and her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. The native Washingtonian spent much of Monday's press conference tying Trump's takeover to the larger issue of statehood for the District of Columbia. As long as Washington, D.C., remains a federal enclave with limited autonomy under the 1973 Home Rule Act, she said it will remain vulnerable to such takeovers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We know that access to our democracy is tenuous,' Bowser said. 'That is why you have heard me, and many many Washingtonians before me, advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia.' Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows the president to take over Washington's police for 48 hours, with possible extensions to 30 days, during times of emergencies. No president has done so before, said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's D.C. chapter. 'That should alarm everyone,' she said, 'not just in Washington.' For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Let me be crystal clear,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said during Trump's announcement news conference. 'Crime in D.C. is ending and ending today.' The action fits a presidential pattern Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office: He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from border protection to economic tariffs, enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out. US President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not shown) and Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks during a news conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC, at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2025. Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Bowser's claims about successfully driving down violent crime rates received backing earlier this year from an unlikely source. Ed Martin, Trump's original choice for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, issued a press release in April hailing a 25% drop in violent crime rates from the previous year. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the efforts of our 'Make D.C. Safe Again' initiative, the District has seen a significant decline in violent crime,' Martin said. 'We are proving that strong enforcement, and smart policies can make our communities safer.' In May, Trump abandoned his efforts to get Martin confirmed for the post in the face of opposition in Congress. His replacement candidate, former judge and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, was recently confirmed. On Monday, Pirro — standing next to Trump _ called his takeover 'the step that we need right now to make criminals understand that they are not going to get away with it anymore.' ___ Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report. Read More Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here. International Soccer News Baseball Baseball
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Israel is in talks to possibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is in discussions with South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country, part of a wider effort by Israel to facilitate mass emigration from the territory left in ruins by its 22-month offensive against Hamas. Six people familiar with the matter confirmed the talks to The Associated Press. It's unclear how far the talks have advanced, but if implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another, and raise human rights concerns.
