HC Deb 22 June 1984 vol 62 cc298-9W
Mr. Alex Carlile

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many charges of indictable offences of violence, including affray, riot and unlawful assembly, have been preferred by the police as a result of picketing during the miners' strike.

Mr. Hurd

The following table gives the information available on the number of indictable offences of violence charged in connection with the miners' dispute in the period between 14 March and 19 June inclusive.

Offence Number of charges
Riot 84
Unlawful Assembly 120
Affray 9
Grievous bodily harm 7
Assault occasioning* actual bodily harm 113
Assault with intent to resist arrest* 8
Total 341
* Offences triable either way

Mr. Alex Carlile

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers and how many pickets have been injured during the course of policing the miners' strike.

Mr. Hurd

Four hundred and twelve police officers were injured in policing events in England and Wales connected with the dispute in the period between 14 March and 20 June, inclusive. Statistics about the number of other people injured are not available.

Mr. Eldon Griffiths

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list in the Official Report the occupations of all those charged with offences of violence in the miners' dispute over the past four months, or such other period as is convenient, indicating what proportion in each category of offences were non-miners.

Mr. Hurd

The information available centrally on the occupations of persons arrested in the context of the dispute does not indicate the charges involved in each arrest. The following table gives the information available on the occupations of people arrested during the dispute in the period between 14 March and 19 June, inclusive. Some 8 per cent. of those arrested were non-miners.

Occupation of person arrested Number of arrests
Miner 3,182
Retired miner 1
Member of Parliament 1
Transport worker 4
Student 36
Health worker 2
Manual worker 37
Non-manual worker 9
Housewives 7
Unemployed 26
Retired (non miners) 2
Not known/Not given 137
TOTAL 3,444