Thatcher death: Miners celebrate by lighting huge bonfire Thousands lined the route of Margaret Thatcher's funeral procession on Wednesday to pay their respects to a prime minister who had a profound impact on Britain, but others turned their backs on her coffin in bitter protest. The woman who ruled Britain for 11 years has aroused strong passions even in death. Thatcher's government crushed the year-long strike in 1985. The heavily state-subsidised mining industry was forced to accept sweeping pit closures, in one of the most bitter episodes in British industrial history. Images of people celebrating around a bonfire at the miners community of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire (PART 1 : VID508339_EN / PART 2: VID508455_EN)