The crew of the Freedom Flotilla boat, Handala, warned Israel to obey international law but are now in captivity, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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The miners’ riot van and invulnerable snowman
From repurposing a police van as the picket express to facing kidnap charges, former miner STEWART BROWN tells northern reporter Peter Lazenby tales of defiance from Bold Colliery during the 1984-85 strike
Former miner Stewart Brown at the Lancashire Mining Museum
[Neil Terry Photography] 
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STRIKING North West miner Stewart Brown talks about his experiences during the strike of 1984-5 as if they were everyday matters — things that just happened.
But even in the annals of that year’s momentous and sometimes horrific events, they were extraordinary. Using an old police bus to transport pickets and getting arrested for kidnap were among them.
Bold colliery outside St Helen’s in Merseyside was a militant pit and its miners supported the strike — a rarity in the north west area of the NUM.
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