    the battle of orgreave is the name given to a confrontation between police and picketing miners at a british steel coking plant in orgreave, south yorkshire, in 1984, during the uk miners' strike. in 1991, south yorkshire police were forced to pay out half a million pounds to 39 miners who were arrested in the events at the battle of orgreave. the national union of mineworkers (num) organised a mass picket of orgreave for 18 june 1984, with the intention of blockading the plant, and ideally forcing its temporary closure. aware of the plans by means of mi5 infiltration, the police organised counter-measures. the num was represented by 5,000 to 6,000 pickets from across the uk. the police deployed between 4,000 and 8,000 officers, and were deployed from 10 counties. of these, a small number had been trained in new riot tactics following the toxteth and brixton riots, while most had little or no experience in dealing with such events. there were between 40 and 50 mounted police and 58 police dogs. there were no women officers and only a handful of female picketers. unlike most of the strikes of the time, where picketers were kept well away from their intended positions, the strikers were escorted to a field to the north of the orgreave plant. the field was flanked by police on all sides except the south, where the sheffield to worksop railway line runs. opinion is divided as to whether this was a deliberate arrangement. ==background to the picket== thumb| the orgreave coking works, where coal was turned into coke for use in steel production, was regarded by scargill as crucial. early in the strike, british steel plants had been receiving "dispensations", picket-permitted movements of coal to prevent damage to their furnaces. however, it was found that more than the permitted amount of coal had bee
1984_in_England 1984_labor_disputes_and_strikes 1984_riots Battles_and_conflicts_without_fatalities History_of_South_Yorkshire Labour_disputes_in_England Law_enforcement_in_England_and_Wales Mining_in_South_Yorkshire Riots_and_civil_disorder_in_England UK_miners\'_strike_(1984a85)