Battle of Orgreave: Inquiry decision expected Published duration 31 October 2016

image caption Police held back striking miners who were attempting to stop lorries of coke leaving Orgreave coking plant for steel works

Campaigners demanding a public inquiry into the so-called Battle of Orgreave during the miners' strike are expecting an announcement from the government.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd is thought to have said she will decide by the end of October whether to launch a probe into police conduct on the day.

Thousands of miners and police clashed at the Yorkshire coking site in 1984.

Campaigners say South Yorkshire Police officers were excessively heavy-handed and manufactured statements.

Barbara Jackson, secretary of Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, said: "We trust that Amber Rudd will announce the only right decision, namely that there must be an inquiry into what happened at Orgreave and after it. These events are too serious to let them lie."

image copyright PA image caption Thousands of miners and around 6,000 police officers clashed at the Orgreave coking site near Rotherham in June 1984

Ms Jackson said the group had "real concerns", however, about what sort of inquiry would be established.

Momentum for an Orgreave inquiry has escalated since the conclusion of the two-year Hillsborough inquests, which provided a scathing assessment of the under-fire police force's behaviour.

image copyright AFP image caption In September, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MPs including Dennis Skinner gathered for a demonstration outside Parliament to lend their support to the campaign