2005-08-17

Security

Evidence from the inquest into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes by London police on 22 July suggests that the initial information that was given by the police was false: Mr Menezes did not jump a ticket barrier, did not flee from police, was not wearing a large and roomy coat or carrying a rucksack. Rather, he was killed after being followed from an apartment block that was under surveillance. So there is the possibility that he was killed for having a residence and personal appearance that the panicked police thought were sufficient. The Guardian has the report, and so does BBC.

Update: Now it turns out that the police commander, Ian Blair, intervened immediately to delay an independent investigation into the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was under restraint at the time that he was shot repeatedly at close range. We expect Mr Blair to prepare the next several minutes of his life writing his letter of resignation, several years in jail, and the remainder in disgrace.

3 comments:

Katja R. said...

Hi Gordy, I posted a link to the full Guardian report on this, because when it went DOWN all my Irish 'spidey senses' went completely bonkers and I KNEW in my bones they'd got the wrong guy. Don't ask me how I knew, but I've followed news regarding Northern Ireland to have a fair notion of British anti-terrorist procedure, and it just felt wrong. The guy had NONE of the profile beyond being kind of brown. I personally have lived among people from India and the Middle East, and among Mexicans enough that I would have noted the differences, and never would have picked him out of a crowd as Middle Eastern or as being Indian or Pakistani. (There ARE Indians and Sri Lankans of Portuguese descent! they are Catholic mostly)
A person not used to dealing with people of other cultures and ethnicities might have made that mistake but it's hard to see how this would happen in Britain. I could see the mistake being made where I live now, pretty easily in fact.
All I know is that it felt wrong to me when it happened.
Another thing I have YET to hear Sean Hanity or Rush Limbaugh retract their intemperate statemens about this matter!

Eric Gordy said...

It is worse than the reports made it look last night -- apparently he was shot while already under restraint, meaning that the police could have simply arrested him. The police are not even certain that the building he exited was the one that they had under surveillance, as the officer was taking a break at the time he walked out. Nearly every detail contradicts the information which was given by the police initially.

Katja R. said...

This kind of thing happened in Northren Ireland in several cases. Not only that, evidence was manufactured in several cases where no one was killed but bunches of people went to jail for 8, 10, or even 20 + years. There's still officers who lived through those times and who did these things on the force. I was aware of the stuff you mentioned. FINALLY NPR is covering the story!
That isn't enough and I don't feel the same about NPR since WalMart bought them out.