[gpt]Rewrite this article in 3-5 professional paragraphs with insights and context. Use
subheadings for each section. End with “Why it matters:” followed by one impactful sentence:
That a panel will examine the brutal treatment of striking miners, and faked police statements, is a triumph for civil society
Sunday’s announcement that there will be an inquiry into the shocking violence used against striking miners by police at Orgreave in 1984, and the subsequent fabrication of police evidence, is a vindication of the long campaign fought by trade unionists and activists. That “there were no deaths” was one of the justifications given by Theresa May’s government for the decision not to order an inquiry in 2016. But the brutal treatment of miners picketing the South Yorkshire coking plant and the criminal case brought against them a year later for rioting have cast deep shadows. The inquiry, chaired by Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, will aim to bring long-hidden truths about the policing of the strike into the light.
Placing these facts in the public domain matters to those affected, some of whom faced the prospect of lengthy prison sentences until police statements and evidence in court were discredited, with paragraphs shown to have been dictated by detectives. But the inquiry has wider significance. Policing by consent, by definition, rests on trust, not brute force. To be worthy of public confidence, forces must be willing to learn, and be held accountable for wrongdoing. The fact that the same police force, South Yorkshire, bore responsibility for the disastrous loss of life at Hillsborough stadium, five years after Orgreave, underscores that need. If the force and its chief constable, Peter Wright, had been properly challenged after the miners’ trial collapsed, might the catastrophe in Sheffield, or at least the alleged cover-up afterwards, have been avoided?
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Source: Politics | The Guardian
