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Police may receive shoot-to-kill orders
FRASER NELSON, GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN AND JAMES KIRKUP - Fri 15 Jul 2005
ARMED police officers could be given more aggressive shoot-to-kill orders, telling them to fire at the heads of suicide bombers, it emerged yesterday. Under a plan known as Operation Kratos, armed Met officers could in extreme circumstances be ordered to shoot suspected suicide bombers in the head.
Details of the potential new Metropolitan Police tactics meant to stop suicide bombers emerged yesterday as the government began to outline the proposals in Tony Blair's tougher stance on deporting Muslim preachers who support terrorism.
Normal firearms rules mean officers fire at the chests of targets, with the intention of stopping and incapacitating, but not directly aiming to kill. But the Met has been advised by Israeli security officials that this is not adequate, since even after several shots they can still be capable of triggering an explosive device.
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Shooting at the chest also runs the risk of triggering explosives strapped to a terrorist's body. Shots to the head, by contrast, kill immediately, almost instantly causing the nervous system to shut down, preventing any detonation.
Security sources fear that up to 50 more British-born terrorists are at large in "sleeper" cells and drastic new tactics will be needed to combat the menace. One source said: "We must reach them before they are given the necessary materials to cause carnage."
The discovery of explosives in one of the properties raided in Leeds, used as a base for the London bombers, has heightened fears that there may be a large supply of explosives available. Security sources said it suggested a possible lorry or car bomb may be planned next.
Despite the move towards a more aggressive firearms policy, the Met has formally decided not to implement another set of powers allowing random stop-and-search operations to be conducted in London. Under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, the Met's commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, has the power to issue an order permitting such searches if he thinks that it may help to catch other bombers.
Mr Blair delivered more details yesterday of his strategies to crack down on Islamic fundamentalism - both in new anti-terrorism legislation and in reviewing the existing powers in the Home Office. Several ideas are already in train. There will be a new warning system which alerts the Home Secretary if anyone is seeking entry to Britain who has been deported by another country. The lack of such system, critics say, has led London to become a hotbed of fanaticism.
Asylum-seekers will also be liable to be thrown out of Britain if they commit an offence after being granted indefinite leave to remain. At present, anyone with such a status is not likely to be deported.
In a sign of the haste with which the moves are being considered, Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, said he would report back to Cabinet next week on his progress. On Monday, Mr Clarke will meet his Conservative and Liberal Democrat counterparts to agree not only the content, but the pace of future legislation. On Tuesday, Mr Blair will discuss plans with Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy, the Tory and Liberal Democrat leaders.
Such a rare degree of consultation is designed to pre-empt a repeat of the Home Secretary's house-arrest proposals for terror suspects in March, which the Tories nearly succeeded in defeating in the Commons. Much of the discussion will involve how to interpret existing rules, which are sweeping but have seldom been tested either by ministers or the police. Mr Blair's official spokesman said a "radical Pakistani cleric" was banned from Britain last summer, after preaching jihad in a Glasgow mosque.
On Monday, the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill will receive its third Commons reading and become law. While protecting Muslims against racist attacks, it would also allow police in England to prosecute anyone who speaks of a jihad on British people.
* The trial of the controversial Islamic preacher Abu Hamza will take place next year, an Old Bailey judge decided yesterday.
Hamza, 47, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London, is accused of soliciting murder of no n-Muslims. He was remanded in custody to face trial on 9 January. He faces nine charges under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 alleging he solicited others at public meetings to murder non-believers, including Jews.
- Scotsman.
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Police snipers track al-Qaeda suspects
July 17, 2005 - UNDERCOVER police sniper squads are tracking as many as a dozen Al-Qaeda suspects because security services fear they could be planning more suicide attacks, writes David Leppard.
The covert armed units are under orders to shoot to kill if surveillance suggests that a terror suspect is carrying a bomb and he refuses to surrender if challenged.
The deployment of the teams in the past week signals the huge "intelligence gap" that has opened up since the London bombings.
Police fear the suspects could be planning a further wave of attacks but do not have enough evidence to arrest them, or place them under the government's new anti-terror control orders.
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, warned last week that there was a "very strong possibility" of more terrorist bombings.
Scotland Yard and MI5 say there may be more "bomb factories". However, officers admit that they have no idea which suspects could be planning the next attacks so they are deploying the sniper squads as an emergency measure.
A member of S019, Scotland Yard's elite firearms unit, said: "These units are trained to deal with any eventuality. Since the London bombs they have been deployed to look at certain people. - timesonline.co.uk
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Bomb hunt - police raid address
22 July 2005 - Detectives investigating yesterday's attempted bombings in London are searching an address in West Kilburn, Scotland Yard said today.
Armed police were at the scene in north west London as a precaution and no arrests have been made, a spokesman said.
Witnesses reported that a small area of Harrow Road had been cordoned and what looked like a bomb disposal vehicle was in the area.
They said police had told them to stay indoors although the area had not been evacuated.
Huse Monferardi, who lives in Portnall Road, just off Harrow Road, told BBC News 24: "From my window I can see 20 doors down what looks like a bomb disposal-type vehicle. It's armoured and there are several armed officers around it.
"About half an hour ago, the police ran up my road telling everyone to get inside their houses.
"Anyone who even puts their head out, they scream 'get inside your house'.
"About 15 minutes ago I saw a little remote-controlled vehicle.
"It went round to the left and then it disappeared from my view.
"It was followed by a couple of armed officers with shields." - this is london
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Detectives search house in London bombings probe
22/07/2005 - 15:01:54
Detectives investigating yesterday's attempted bombings in London are searching an address in the Harrow Road area of west Kilburn, Scotland Yard said.
Armed officers are there as a precaution and no arrests have been made.
This comes after this morning's shooting of a suspected suicide bomber on the London Underground today as he fled from the police.
- IOL
Man held in Birmingham terror alert
A man has been arrested under anti-terror laws at Snow Hill rail station in Birmingham. Two suitcases were also being examined by explosives officers, British Transport Police said.
The station was closed at 5.55pm on Friday and was not expected to open for a few another two hours, according to rail industry sources. Local offices were also evacuated, but there was no immediate information linking the arrest to the London attacks.
West Midlands Police said later in a statement: "Snow Hill station has been evacuated and cordoned off.
- scotsman.com
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Birmingham security alert ends, man released
22 Jul 2005 20:12:08 GMT Source: Reuters (Updates after security alert ends)
LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - British police arrested a man under anti-terrorism laws at a train station in Birmingham on Friday and searched two suitcases but they later said the security alert was over and the man had been freed.
They evacuated Snow Hill station in Britain's second city and searched the bags.
But by 7.00 p.m. (2000 GMT) the station had been reopened and the man had been released without charge.
"Nothing suspicious was found ... There was no need for a controlled explosion," a police spokesman said.
Britain has been on high alert since July 7 when suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's underground network and a bus.
Earlier on Friday, police shot dead a man at Stockwell underground station in south London and later arrested a man in a flat near the station.
They said the dead man was connected to their investigation into four botched bombings in London on Thursday in which no one was killed.
- alertnet.org
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Mark Whitby - witness No. 1
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Man shot dead by police on Tube
Friday, 22 July 2005, 21:25 GMT 22:25 UK
A man has been shot dead by armed officers at Stockwell Tube station, as police hunt four would-be bombers. Passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen a man of Asian appearance shot five times by "plain-clothes police officers" with a handgun.
"I saw the gun being fired five times into the guy - he is dead," he said.
Passengers were evacuated from the Northern Line station in south London. Police have also cordoned off a 200-metre area around the station. Services on the Victoria and Northern lines have been suspended following a request by the police, London Underground said.
Ambulances including an air ambulance have been sent to the scene at Stockwell.
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"They pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him" - Witness Mark Whitby
'They unloaded five shots'
Mr Whitby, told BBC News: "I was sitting on the train reading my paper. "I heard a load of noise, people saying, 'Get out, get down'! "I saw an Asian guy run onto the train hotly pursued by three plain-clothes police officers. "One of them was carrying a black handgun - it looked like an automatic - they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him."
Passenger Briony Coetsee said: "We were on the Tube and then we suddenly heard someone say, 'Get out, get out' and then we heard gunshots."
Passenger Alison Bowditch told BBC News: "The tube pulled into the station and we were sitting there, you know, as you do and then there was just a lot of shouting and the sound of gunfire and then people were saying, 'Get off, get off!'
"Somebody definitely went to the ground and as they went to the ground I heard gun fire and assumed they had been shot."
A mosque in east London has been evacuated after a bomb scare - but a police cordon has now been lifted.
After Thursday's London blasts, the bombers fled after detonators went off, causing small blasts, but failed to detonate the bombs themselves.
- BBC
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Enter witnesses no...2..3..4 -
Jason Dines...Georgia Law...Anthony Larkin
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I saw Tube man shot - eyewitness
Eyewitness report
A passenger has told how he saw armed police officers shoot a man dead on a Tube train at Stockwell.
Mark Whitby said:
"I was sitting on the train... I heard a load of noise, people saying, 'Get out, get down'. "I saw an Asian guy. He ran on to the train, he was hotly pursued by three plain clothes officers, one of them was wielding a black handgun. "He half tripped... they pushed him to the floor and basically unloaded five shots into him," he told BBC News 24. "As [the suspect] got onto the train I looked at his face, he looked sort of left and right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, a cornered fox. "He looked absolutely petrified and then he sort of tripped, but they were hotly pursuing him, [they] couldn't have been any more than two or three feet behind him at this time and he half tripped and was half pushed to the floor and the policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand. "He held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him.
Heavy coat
"He [the suspect] had a baseball cap on and quite a sort of thickish coat - it was a coat you'd wear in winter, sort of like a padded jacket. "He might have had something concealed under there, I don't know. But it looked sort of out of place with the sort of weather we've been having, the sort of hot humid weather. "He was largely built, he was quite a chubby sort of guy. "I didn't see any guns or anything like that - I didn't see him carrying anything. I didn't even see a bag to be quite honest. "I got into the ticket hall. I was approached by a policeman and London Underground staff asking me if I needed counselling. "I was just basically saying I've just seen a man shot dead. I've seen a man shot dead. I was distraught, totally distraught. It was no less than five yards away from where I was sitting. I actually saw it with my own eyes."
'Popping sounds'
Another passenger on the train, Georgia Law, told BBC Radio 5 Live she heard the shots.
"I heard all these popping sounds, it sounded like gunshots, but quite quiet ones. "I could hear shouting, 'get down' and people going 'run, run'. I thought there was just someone shooting randomly. "So I lay on the floor of the carriage and then I decided to get up and have a look out. "[I] could see someone lying on the floor and police all standing around. "But it was all quite panicky so I then ran up the platform and out of the Tube."
Commuter Anthony Larkin, who was also on the train at Stockwell station, told 5 Live he saw police chasing a man.
"I saw these police officers in uniform and out of uniform shouting 'get down, get down', and I saw this guy who appeared to have a bomb belt and wires coming out and people were panicking and I heard two shots being fired."
'People were crying'
Jason Dines was a passenger on a Victoria line tube train which arrived at Stockwell station as the shooting was taking place.
"When we pulled into Stockwell there was just a lot of panic on the platform," he told News 24. "Everyone who was on the platform was just running from one end of the platform down to the exit as quickly as possible. "There was a real wave of panic on my train, people were banging on the doors saying, you know, 'come on, open the doors, let us get off, we want to get off the train'. "Because of that panic, you couldn't actually hear what the driver's announcements were, what he was telling us to do which was a bit of a problem. "The doors opened, we got onto the platform, then you could hear the PA address system on the platform - the drivers were basically saying get back on the train. "There were people very, very shaken, a couple of people crying. It was quite an unsettling experience."
BBC
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"Stop... Police!"
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Second man arrested over attempted London bombings
23/07/2005 - 09:31:19 A second man has been arrested in London in connection with the investigation into the attempted bomb attacks on the capital's transport network, police said today. The man was held at about midnight in Stockwell, south London, close to where a suspect was shot dead by police yesterday. He was the second man to be arrested in the area in connection with Thursday's attempted bomb attacks on three Tube trains and a bus.
The first man was held last night following a raid at a property there.
Both men are being held at London's high-security Paddington Green police station. The arrests came after police released closed-circuit TV pictures of four men suspected of trying to detonate the London bombs. The first man was arrested after armed police stormed on to a Stockwell housing estate at about 4.30pm yesterday.
Police refused to comment on a report in The Sun newspaper that he was one of the men captured in the CCTV pictures. The man was thought to be the son-in-law of a woman living at the address raided by police. Neighbours said the family were Muslims, originally from Ethiopia. The arrested man's wife and young son were also led away by police, according to residents living in the same block of flats.
The arrest was part of a fast-moving day in the bid to trace the four men, who police believe were responsible for rucksack bombs found on underground trains at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush stations and on a number 26 bus in Shoreditch on Thursday. The capital was on a state of alert and parts of the transport system were brought to a halt by security scares thrughout the day.
The fatal shooting at Stockwell happened at 10am yesterday when armed plain clothes police officers shot a man as he tried to board a train at the underground station. It was understood police had put a house nearby under surveillance and the man came out of there. Officers followed him, hoping he would lead them to the bombers, but when he went into the station they told him to stop. The Asian man then bolted down an escalator and tried to get on a train before he was, according to witnesses, shot five times in the head by an officer with an automatic pistol.
Train passenger Mark Whitby said: "As the man got on the train I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified.
"He sort of tripped but they were hotly pursuing him and couldn't have been more than two or three feet behind him at this time. "They unloaded five shots into him. I saw it. He's dead, five shots, he's dead."
As with all police shootings the Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed it will be launching an investigation into the death of the man at Stockwell. Although the dead man was not one of the four suspected bombers, Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the shooting was "directly linked" to anti-terror operations.
Police also launched an armed raid in Portnall Road, West Kilburn, which they believe may have been connected to one of the bombers. Witnesses reported seeing a robot sent into the garden before officers fired six shots into the windows and basement of the house from a building across the street and used CS gas.
Other people were reportedly surrounded by officers with machine guns. No one was arrested. Elsewhere in the country last night, a man was arrested under anti-terror laws at Snow Hill rail station in Birmingham.
Two suitcases were also examined by explosives officers, British Transport Police said, but were not found to be suspicious.
IOL
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Mosque surrounded?
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Man shot on Tube, mosque surrounded
By Local London Reporter 11:02am Fri 22nd July 2005 - BREAKING NEWS: Police have shot a man at Stockwell Tube station and a mosque in east London is surrounded by armed officers. Eyewitnesses say an Asian man was shot five times after being chased into the south London station.
One said the man "looked like a cornered fox" before he was caught by police. It is thought plain clothes officers chased the man from the street onto a Northern Line train.
One commuter said that the man fell into a carriage before officers pushed him to the floor and shot him five times. The man was also said to be wearing a baseball cap and a heavy coat.
In east London a mosque has been surrounded by police carrying guns and local residents have been told to stay indoors. It is thought that about ten officers are at the East London mosque in Whitechapel High Street.
Sniffer dogs are said to be inside looking for two suspect packages.
An office worker nearby said: "It is calm and the police have sealed off the whole area. "They told us not to evacuate our building and they have just taken a dog patrol into the mosque. "The police have briefed us. They said there is a suspect package inside, which they are investigating."
Victoria and Northern Line services have been suspended.
The shooting comes as police continue their search for four would-be suicide bombers who made a botched attempt to launch a second wave of attacks in London yesterday.
thisislocallondon.co.uk
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Special Branch/MI5/anti-Terror unit tailed the dead man
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Tailing The Tube Suicide Bomb Suspect
Friday July 22, 05:25 PM - Specialist officers had been tailing the man shot at Stockwell Tube station from his home, says Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt.Police believed the Asian man was responsible for an attempted attack on the nearby Oval Tube on Thursday and had set up surveillance on him.Brunt said officers had followed the man from his home and that the initial plan was to arrest him.
But from his home to Stockwell Tube, events overtook police and marksmen were forced to shoot.
Despite temperatures of around 22C (72F), officers and witnesses said the man was wearing a heavy coat under which it was feared may have been a bomb.
Brunt said: "Intelligence officers had suggested he was the bomber from Thursday.
"Officers were confronted with the very real possibility that this man did have a bomb."
Initial examinations though, said Brunt, did not discover any explosives on the suspect. - Yahoo
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why would you let a suspected bomber on the tube after you had followed him in plain clothes?
I can understand someone fleeing when a handgun is stuck in his face by unknown plain-clothes men in a busy city.
Suicide bombers are known to employ a release trigger...which detonates the bomb when released.
This BBC report, quotes an eyewitness as saying that the shooting victim was in the train for several seconds before he was shot. If this is so, he certainly had time to trigger a suicide bomb that he was carrying. This would require either pushing a button that he could have got into his hand as he ran into the train or releasing his hold on a button that he had been pushing all along. If the bomb were triggered by a timer, this would not have been the case.
why...if he was suspected of carrying a bomb would you shoot at his body...presumably where the bomb was...?
was the man shot in the face/head? Five times? [now 8 times]
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Shot man still un-named but "was not connected"
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Police: Man shot 'not connected' to bombings
Saturday, July 23, 2005 Posted: 1902 GMT (0302 HKT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Police say the man they shot dead at a London Underground station "was not connected" with this week's attempted bombings on the city's transit system.
"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets," the police statement said Saturday.
During a news conference following Friday's shooting, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said "this shooting is directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation."
The man -- whose identity has not been released -- on Friday left a South London apartment building that had been under surveillance as part of the investigation into the attempted bombings Thursday. Officers followed him to the Stockwell Underground station. The man's "clothing and suspicious behavior at the station added to their suspicions," a police statement said.
He challenged police and refused to obey orders before he was shot and killed Friday morning, Blair said Friday.
- CNN
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Shot dead the wrong man
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LONDON (Reuters) - Police admitted on Saturday they had shot dead the wrong man in a tragic error as they combed London for four men after attempted bomb attacks on the capital's transport system. Plainclothes police chased the man onto an underground train on Friday after he ignored warnings to stop, shooting him five times in the head because they feared he was carrying a bomb and was going to detonate it.
"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005," police said on Saturday. "For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."
Thursday's failed attacks on three underground trains and a bus killed no one, but caused chaos just two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters. The Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, an al Qaeda-linked group, has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing attempts and those of July 7, but the group's claims of responsibility for previous attacks in Europe have been discredited by security experts.
Police also carried out arrests and staged raids to prevent possible future attacks and to find the four men suspected of Thursday's failed bombings. Muslim groups condemned the killing and expressed shock at the news of the victim's innocence.
"To give license to people to shoot to kill just like that, on the basis of suspicion, is very frightening," Azzam Tamimi of the Muslim Association of Britain told BBC television. "It is human lives that are being targeted here, whether by terrorists or in this case unfortunately by people who are supposed to be chasing or catching the terrorists."
SHOCKED PASSENGERS
Human rights activists said police were in an impossible position, with split seconds to take a life or death decision, but insisted on a full and independent inquiry. The killing in front of shocked passengers on a packed underground train triggered speculation that traditionally unarmed British police had adopted a shoot-to-kill policy.
Police were questioning two men were held after raids late on Friday in the Stockwell area of south London close to the site of one of Thursday's failed bombs on three underground trains and a bus -- the same targets as the July 7 bombs. Later on Saturday armed police raided a house in the Brixton area of south London within walking distance of Stockwell. It was at Brixton mosque that Richard Reid -- dubbed the shoe bomber for his failed attempt in December 2001 to blow up an airliner with explosives in his trainers -- worshipped.
Police released closed circuit television pictures of the four suspects and appealed for the public to help find them, but warned that they were dangerous and not to be approached. One day after the pictures were released police said they had received nearly 500 calls and 80 emails from the public.
The killing of the man took Britain's fight against terrorism to a new level of force in a country where only specialist officers carry weapons and killings by police are very rare. Mayor Ken Livingstone said the duty of the police was to protect the public against people considered to be terrorist suspects.
INVESTIGATION PLANNED
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was investigating the killing, as it did all fatal police shootings. Analysts said police were operating under secret new guidelines, codenamed Operation Kratos, allowing them to aim for the head if they believe there was a threat to the public.
"Simple nervous system shut-down, that is the objective," anti-terrorism expert Robert Ayers of the Royal Institute of International Affairs think-tank told Reuters.
The July 7 attacks killed 52 people and injured 700 in the worst peacetime attacks in the city's history. But on Thursday the devices failed to go off properly.
Because of that, police have more clues than after July 7, including the bombs, eye witness reports and CCTV footage.
But security experts and the former head of London's police warned the attacks could continue. Livingstone cautioned so-called soft targets could also be at risk.
"People may be worried now about going on the tube, but it is quite likely the next attack will be in a pub or club or simply on a crowded street," he told Sky News television as Italian soccer club Inter Milan cancelled a planned tour.
London's police chief Ian Blair said on Friday his force faced "the greatest operational challenge" in its history.
Police refused to say if the men in custody were among the four suspects pictured in the photographs.
reuters
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Notice: although this story seemingly concerns the
SHOOTING OF INNOCENT MAN
[Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil]
5 TIMES [later revised to 8] IN THE HEAD,
It is interspersed with other events as if in some vain effort to justify it...
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Shot man not connected to bombing
A man shot dead by police hunting the bombers behind Thursday's London attacks was unconnected to the incidents, police have confirmed. The man, who died at Stockwell Tube on Friday, has been named by police as Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, 27.
Two other men have been arrested and are being questioned after bombers targeted three Tube trains and a bus. A suspect package found in north-west London may be linked to Thursday's attacks, police believe.
'Tragedy'
Brazilian diplomats in London said they had been told by police the man who was shot dead by police on Friday was a Brazilian.
An earlier Scotland Yard statement read: "We believe we now know the identity of the man shot at Stockwell Underground station by police on Friday 22nd July 2005, although he is still subject to formal identification.
"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005.
"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."
A package was found by a member of the public in bushes in Little Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday morning. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Explosives officers attended the scene. An initial examination suggests that the object may be linked to devices found at four locations in London on July 21."
Police said it would be subject to "detailed forensic analysis".
Police have also raided a house in Streatham Hill, south London, in connection with the failed attacks. The statement confirmed the man had been followed by police from a house in Tulse Hill that was under surveillance. His death is being investigated by officers from the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards, and will be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
John O'Connor, former commander of the Met Police, told the BBC the consequences of the shooting were likely to be "quite horrendous". He said he expected officers to face criminal charges, and other officers could even refuse to carry weapons.
But Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said it was too early to judge what the effects would be. She called for a "prompt, comprehensive and independent investigation".
Arrests
Police announced on Saturday evening they have raided another property in south London. Residents of the street in Streatham Hill, near Brixton, told how armed police ordered them to stay in their homes while they cordoned off the area. There do not appear to have been any arrests.
Police arrested one man after a raid on a block of flats in Stockwell Two men are still being held at Paddington Green police station, central London, in connection with Thursday's attacks. The first man was arrested at around 1630 BST on Friday during a raid on a block of flats near to Oval and Stockwell Tube stations. Eyewitnesses said he was led away with a woman and child. The second man was arrested late on Friday night, also in the Stockwell area. Both are being held under anti-terrorism legislation which gives police 14 days before they have to bring charges.
CCTV images
Scotland Yard said they had been contacted by over 500 members of the public following the release of CCTV footage of four suspects. Detectives said they were hopeful of useful lines of inquiry coming from the calls and e-mails.
Three devices found after the failed bombings were the same size and weight as those used in the suicide attacks of 7 July, which killed scores. The fourth was smaller, apparently contained in a plastic box. The same chemicals appear to have been used. They targeted Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush stations and a bus in Hackney. The Hammersmith and City line train was removed from Shepherd's Bush station on Saturday afternoon.
Transport for London said it hoped to have trains running on the line from Paddington to Hammersmith on Saturday evening.
BBC
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The fake bombings a cover?
COLOURBLIND: BROWN SKIN = ASIAN = TERRORIST
CULTUREBLIND: "Foreign looking" = TERRORIST
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Man shot dead: Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil
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Commuter Teri Godly said she stood next to the man before police charged in. "A tall Asian guy, shaved head, slight beard, with a rucksack got in front of me. Shortly after that, as I was about to get onto the train, eight or nine undercover police with walkie talkies and handguns started screaming at everyone to 'get out, get out'." [Source]
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Man shot dead: Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil
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The Asian man then bolted down an escalator and tried to get on a train... Train passenger Mark Whitby, an eyewitness to the shooting, said: "He basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified. "He sort of tripped but they were hotly pursuing him and couldn't have been more than two or three feet behind him at this time. I saw it. He's dead, five shots, he's dead." [Source]
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Man shot dead: Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil
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Another passenger, Rob Lowe, 33, from Balham, saw the incident from another viewpoint in the carriage. "The tube was stationary and then a man came on who I presume now to be a plain-clothes policeman, but at the time I didn't know who he was," he said.
"He was looking quite shifty, getting up and sitting back down again. I felt a bit awkward around him. And then he seemed to shout at some people on the other platform, who then all came rushing. The tube suddenly filled up with loads of people running down to the end of my carriage. "Then I heard probably four or five loud bangs and saw a bit of smoke "I have never heard a gun go off before but the bangs sounded like what I would presume a gun to sound like." [Source]
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Man shot dead: Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil
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Anthony Larkin, another passenger, said he thought the shot man had been wearing a bomb belt. "I saw these police officers in uniform and out of uniform shouting 'get down, get down', and I saw this guy who appeared to have a bomb belt and wires coming out and people were panicking and I heard two shots being fired," he said.
Ben Anderson, in the next carriage, spoke of confusion and more shouting. "A lot of people were screaming. The first gunshot was fired and I started to run out of the Tube and up the stairs and then there were a lot of shots afterwards. Outside the police were everywhere, they cordoned off the area very quickly.
[source]
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Man shot dead: Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil
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Thick padded Jacket in witness testimony...
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Mark Whitby was on the train when he heard people shouting "get down, get down" and an Asian man, heavily built and wearing a baseball cap and a thick padded jacket, ran on to the train, pursued by three plain clothes police officers, one of them carrying a handgun.
Mr Whitby said the young Asian man was shot five times at close range after he had jumped on a train. "An Asian guy ran on to the train. As he ran, he was hotly pursued by three plain clothes police officers." He said the man tripped and was also pushed to the floor, then one of the officers shot him five times. "One of the police officers was holding a black automatic pistol in his left hand. "They held it down to him and unloaded five shots into him. I saw it. He's dead, five shots, he's dead." Mr Whitby said: "As the man got on the train I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified." Mr Whitby said the man was wearing a baseball cap and a thick, padded jacket which he thought looked out of place due to the recent warm weather. "Maybe he might have had something concealed under there, I don't know." He said he crouched down and ran from the station as fast as he could. "I just was worried about bullets flying around. The other passengers were distraught. It was just mayhem, people were just getting off the Tube. "I've never seen people move so fast in all my life. Absolute mayhem. It was a very, very distressing sight to watch, and to hear as well."
[source]
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Man shot dead: Jean Charles de Menezes, aged 27 from Brazil
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Thrown onto train, Silencers used - witness testimony...
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Journalist Chris Martin said he was waiting on the northbound Northern line platform at Stockwell station and a train had pulled in when several men burst on to the platform about 20 yards from him.
"There was a lot of shouting, I thought it was football fans or something," he said.
"There was obviously some sort of altercation going on, and then they came flying on to the platform and these guys just threw this man into the open doors of the train.
"Then I heard shots, I thought it was three but someone else said five.
"It sounded like a silencer gun going off, and then there was blind panic, with people shouting and screaming and just running away.
This is London
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So where are we living: Berlin 1936?
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Muslims fear 'shoot-to-kill' policy
22/07/2005 - 12:27:41 - Muslim leaders called on British police today to explain why an Asian man was shot dead at Stockwell station in London this morning.
The Muslim Council of Britain said Muslims were concerned there was a "shoot-to-kill" policy in operation.
A spokesman said Muslims he had spoken to this morning were "jumpy and nervous".
Inayat Bunglawala said: "I have just had one phone call saying: 'What if I was carrying a rucksack?'
"It's vital the police give a statement about what occurred and explain why the man was shot dead.
"There may well be reasons why the police felt it necessary to unload five shots into the man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear.
"We are getting phone calls from quite a lot of Muslims who are distressed about what may be a shoot-to-kill policy."
He said in the current atmosphere Muslims were very afraid and other people were looking at them in a very suspicious manner. - IOL
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Flashback Armed officers' anger at arrests
Friday, 3 June, 2005 -
London's armed police are furious at the treatment of two officers arrested six years after a shooting a man dead, the Met Police Federation has said.
One has stood down from firearms duties, and some officers were said to be "disgusted" at their treatment.
Neil Sharman and Kevin Fagan were held, later bailed, on suspicion of murder over Harry Stanley's death in 1999.
Mr Stanley was shot in Hackney when police mistook the table leg he was carrying wrapped in a bag, for a gun.
There have been two inquests and two judicial reviews into the case.
After the second inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing, the two officers were suspended - sparking an unofficial "strike" by their colleagues in the Met's SO19 firearms unit. More than 100 laid down their weapons over the case. They were later allowed to return to desk duties and the High Court overturned the verdict last month.
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But Surrey Police had begun an independent investigation into the case and said, as a result, new forensic evidence had been found. Insp Sharman and Pc Fagan were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of murder, gross negligence, manslaughter and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Steve House said they had been surprised by the arrests and said there was a lot of anger about the way the men had been treated.
Scotland Yard confirmed on Friday that one SO19 officer has stood down from armed duties while they "consider their position". On Friday, Glen Smyth, of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said some firearms officers were "absolutely disgusted" at the treatment of the two officers.
He said: "Officers are angry. You have to have a balance between people being accountable for their actions and that being done in a timely and professional way. "Yes, there must be an investigation and it must be transparent but this is not the way to go about it."
Asked if another unofficial "strike" was likely, Mr Smyth said: "It depends on what happens next."
The Stanley family fought a campaign after the first inquest returned an open verdict and have since called for the two officers to be suspended.
- BBC
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another man dead in April - same deal?
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Azelle Rodney: shot seven times by cops
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Police "lies" over man shot by cops
5/9/2005 - THE MOTHER of a man gunned down by armed police has hit out at lies put out about her son. Tearful Susan Alexander accused the Metropolitan Police of spreading false information in the wake of the fatal shooting in Edgware, north London. The case has remarkable similarities with the shooting dead of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at London's Stockwell underground station. Mr Rodney, who had just celebrated his 24th birthday, was shot seven times in a pre-planned police operation in April. A source, believed to be close to the police, later briefed a London newspaper that Rodney was seem holding a gun and was involved in the drugs trade. Ms Alexander said both allegations were untrue and were part of an attempt to detract attention from a wrongful death. Scotland Yard have not officially made either claim.
killing
In a striking parellel the family of Mr Menezes, 27, held a press conference after the Stockwell shooting to deny claims made by police that he was wearing a puffer jacket which could have hidden a bomb and had vaulted the ticket barrier in an attempt to escape armed police. Jean Charles de Menezes: shot 11 times after being tackled to the ground. |
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Subsequent reports have claimed Mr Menezes was wearing a light jean jacket and had entered the station normally, apparently unaware he was being followed until challenged by armed cops on the station platform. Mr Rodney was on the backseat of a car stopped by police on Hale Lane outside a restaurant around 8pm on 30th April. Ms Alexander told Blink: "I would like to scotch these rumours by telling you that my son was a very caring, sensitive, funny and generous person who always had a big grin
on his face.
"We like to believe that the police can enforce the law in the correct
manner, but this makes me wonder about the mental state and professional ability of the police officer responsible for killing Azelle." Helen Shaw from campaign group Inquest added: "The case deserves more public scrutiny. It is an insult to
Azelles family the fact that the police officer who killed him has not
been suspended from duty."
Relatives are calling for the suspension of the police officer who shot Mr Rodney until the Independent Police Complaints Commission have completed their investigation. The officer is currently working on 'desk duty'. In a statement the Metropolitan police said: "The decision to suspend an officer is made depending on circumstances of the incident. On this occasion it was felt appropriate not to suspend him from police duty, but instead suspend him from fire arm duty whilst the investigation is being conducted."
Ms Alexander and her supporters insist there is no evidence of Mr Rodney holding a gun. Two other occupants, Wesley Lovell, 26, and Frank Graham, 23, were arrested and remain in custody. Both are charged with three counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and one offence of carrying amunition. They will appear at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court on 19th September for a plea and directions hearing.
- Black information link
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Man shot in terror hunt was innocent young Brazilian [excerpt]
· Met regrets London shooting 'tragedy'
· Victim's country seeks talks with Straw
Tony Thompson, Gaby Hinsliff and Alexandre Xavier - Sunday July 24, 2005 - The Observer
A young Brazilian man, living and working in London as an electrician, emerged last night as the innocent victim shot dead by police in their hunt for the suicide bombers targeting the capital.
The dead man, killed at Stockwell tube station on Friday after fleeing from armed police, was named as 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes. His body was identified by Alex Pereira, a cousin who lives in London and who afterwards told The Observer: 'I can't believe they shot him, because he was not a terrorist. He was an honest man.
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'We [the family] are still too shocked to talk about it. But I am sure [that] he didn't do anything wrong. It was not right for the police to do that.'
Pereira said that the most upsetting part of identifying his cousin was 'to see bullet wounds in his back and his neck when I went to the mortuary in Greenwich.'
The Brazilian government last night voiced 'shock and surprise', saying it had always sought the 'eradication of the misery' of terror 'within international norms and respect for human rights'.
The statement added that Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, due in London on a previously scheduled visit for a UN reform conference, would be seeking a meeting with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for 'clarifications about the death'.
Originally from a farm half an hour from the city of Gonzaga in Minas Gerais state in south-east Brazil, Menezes, who was unmarried, had been living in London for three years. He appears to have lived in a house in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, south London, which had been under surveillance since the four failed bomb attacks on the city's tube and bus system last Thursday.
His grandmother, Dona Zilda, who lives on the farm, said early today: 'He was a lovely, educated young man, a worker. He would never be involved in terrorism.'
Scotland Yard said last night that Menezes 'was not connected to incidents in central London on 21 July in which four explosive devices were partly detonated. An inquest will be opened to acknowledge formal identification and adjourned, while awaiting the outcome of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.'
Soon after being followed from the Tulse Hill house by plainclothes officers watching the address, Menezes lay dead on the platform at Stockwell station from multiple gunshot wounds. He had failed to obey orders from armed officers to stop.
His death will cause controversy over the way Britain confronts suicide bombers, and has prompted calls for a public inquiry. In its first statement yesterday, the Metropolitan Police Service expressed 'regret' over his death.
'We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday, 21 July 2005,' it said. 'For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police service regrets.'
Downing Street and Home Office sources last night declined to comment.
But Ken Livingstone, London's Mayor, said the 'human tragedy' should be laid at the door of the terrorists.
'All Londoners will wish to offer their condolences to this man's family and friends,' he said. 'The police acted to do what they believed necessary to protect the lives of the public. This tragedy has added another victim to the toll of deaths for which the terrorists bear responsibility.'
The Muslim Council of Great Britain warned last night that the 'terrible, tragic mistake' could have serious consequences. 'We got lots of hostile emails saying: "How dare you criticise the police?" - and now we hear that he is innocent,' said media secretary Inayat Bunglawala.
'We of course understand the police are under a great deal of pressure and it's a race against time to capture these four suspected bombers. But it is absolutely vital that their rules of engagement are very, very stringent and that this terrible mistake does not occur again.'
He said the police needed to encourage public confidence and co-operation from Muslims and others. 'For that co-operation to occur, the police also need to be seen to be making every possible endeavour to ensure they are going after the right people.'
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which automatically examines fatal police firearms incidents, confirmed it was investigating.
Scotland Yard said last night that an unspecified number of officers had been taken off firearms duties, which is standard practice after a weapon has been discharged. The officers are still at work on normal duties.
Armed officers are instructed to shoot at the head, not the chest, when facing a suspected suicide bomber, to disable them faster. The change follows advice from the Israeli police.
[Note: following testimony has all references to 'Asians' removed]
Witnesses to Friday's shooting told of the terror on the man's face. Mark Whitby, a passenger who was sitting just yards away, said the man was 'hotly pursued' on to the train, adding: 'I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified ... It was a very, very distressing scene to watch, and to hear as well ... I saw them kill a man.'
Whitby last night told The Observer: 'The death of anyone, involved [in terrorism] or not, to me is abhorrent.'
Ken Jones, chief constable of Sussex and chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers' committee on terrorism and allied matters, appealed to the public yesterday to 'put themselves into the shoes' of officers. Dozens of firearms officers have been trained in confronting suicide bombers since 11 September and undercover officers regularly travel on trains. It is not a perfect science,' he said. 'I would ask the public to try to put themselves into the shoes of the officers, often young men and women, and understand how difficult these cases are.
'They have to be prepared to take a life knowing that if they fail to do so, the cost could be hundreds of lives. We have dreaded this day for years, but it is now an operational reality on the streets of Britain.' He said officers had to intervene at an earlier stage when facing 'people intent on mass murder'.
The address in Tulse Hill ---[My Note: a block of flats, a multiple residency]--- was identified from materials found inside the bombers' unexploded rucksacks on Thursday and was immediately put under surveillance. When Menezes, dressed in baseball cap, blue fleece and baggy trousers, emerged from it at around 10am on Friday, he was followed. When he headed for the nearby tube station, officers decided to arrest him. An armed unit took over, ordering him to stop. He did not. His unseasonally thick jacket apparently prompted concern that he had explosives strapped beneath.
Witnesses said the man jumped the ticket barriers and was chased into the station, where he half-tripped boarding a train. He was allegedly pushed to the floor by armed police, then, according to eyewitnesses, an officer fired five shots into his head.
- Guardian
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"The man emerged from a block of flats in the Stockwell area that were under police surveillance as part of the investigation into the incidents on
Thursday 21st July. He was then followed by surveillance officers to the Underground station. His clothing and behaviour added to their suspicions."
Times
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Shock and grief for family of Brazilian shot in UK
There was a mixture of grief and shock for the Brazilian family of Jean Charles de Menezes when they heard he had been shot dead in error by police in the UK hunting terrorism suspects. They last saw him three months ago when he returned to Gonzaga for a holiday, and now he is all over the news, his death a tragic mistake.
They cannot see any reason why he would run from police.
"He speak English very well," said friend Aline Fernandes, "It doesn't make sense if the police were talking to him."
Cousin Alex Alves Pereira, who lives in London, had to identify the body. He is dumbfounded: "They had to stop him before he got on the bus, before he got on the underground. Not like this. They had time to tell him to stop and stayed far from him and to stop and to make sure it was safe."
One London friend said Menezes was even considering buying a motorbike to avoid the Tube after the terrorist attacks. - euronews.net
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8 TIMES
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Why is this story about the Menezes Tragedy published with a picture of one of the suspects...
>>>>>>>>>
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Police shot Brazilian eight times
Mr Menezes had been in London for more than three years
The man mistaken for a suicide bomber by police was shot eight times, an inquest into his death has heard.
Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, at Stockwell Tube station, south London, on Friday.
Det Insp Elizabeth Baker revealed the details at a hearing in London.
Security sources have said Mr Menezes had been in the UK on an out-of-date student visa, but his family deny this and are considering suing the police.
Mr Menezes' cousin, Alex Pereira, who is based in London, said the police would "kill thousands of people" if they were not held accountable for what had happened at Stockwell.
He said: "They just kill the first person they see, that's what they did. They killed my cousin, they could kill anyone."
BBC
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Driver threatened...why?
Tube driver had gun pointed at head
The driver of the London Underground train involved in the latest terrorist scare was chased by armed police and had a gun held to his head as he tried to escape the scene of today's shooting, union officials have claimed.
The driver started running along an underground tunnel as passengers were fleeing from Stockwell Tube station following the shooting of a suspect.
He was followed by police who briefly held a gun to his head, according to officials from the train drivers' union Aslef. - scotsman.com
Feelings were running particularly high in the union after the driver of the train in which a Brazilian electrician was shot dead was himself chased by police and held at gunpoint.
Police have since apologised to the driver, a west African, who is still off work suffering from shock.
telegraph
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Crow seeks further talks with Mayor after 'disappointing' meeting
publication date: 22 July 2005
JULY 22: THE TUBE'S biggest union is seeking further urgent talks with the Mayor of London after a "very disappointing" meeting with Ken Livingstone today.
"It is extremely disappointing that at the Mayor did not give the assurances that our members are seeking on key safety and security issues," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today. "We are seeking straightforward commitments to dropping plans to cut station staff and to ensuring that safety regulations for sub-surface stations remain in place, but these were not forthcoming.
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"I am sure that Tube users would agree with us that we need to see more uniformed staff on stations, not fewer, and that safety regulations brought in after the Kings Cross fire should remain in place. "In the absence of positive responses on these and other concerns we put forward, I have today requested a direct meeting with the Mayor on Monday, and will be consulting the general secretaries of our sister unions and members of our parliamentary group over the weekend. "Our members and all LUL staff have shown immense courage and commitment through the awful events of the last two weeks, but their concerns at the way yesterday's alert was handled are serious and there are many other issues that remain to be resolved.
"Their concerns will have been fuelled by the revelation that an innocent Tube driver today found himself with a police gun at his head during the incident in Stockwell station in which a suspect was shot dead.
"No apology could ever be enough ever take away the trauma that that driver has suffered and there should be a full inquiry into the handling of the incident," Bob Crow said. - RMT
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Want an aslef credit card?
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Menazes' status goes through a series of revisions over the following week, with yet another story surfacing that the stamp in his passport is 'forged'. The Home Office refuses to comment. Overall though, the impression is left in the public's mind that there was something 'dodgy' about Menazes. It's all grist for the propaganda mill. The mainstream press of course, rush to the defence of the police's actions in total lock-step with official policy on state-sanctioned murder.
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The witnesses to the assassination disappear completely. There are no followup interviews by our intrepid press. A brief press release is issued by the RMT union that the driver of the train, who understandably fled along with everyone else when the shots rang out, is chased by the police and has a gun held to his head before being released (was he by any chance, 'darker than blue' I wonder?). I phoned up the RMT and was told that the driver was in fact a member of ASLEF, the other transport workers' union. The only press report on this that I could find was in the Morning Star. I attempted to talk to the ASLEF press office but to no avail and as far as I know, ASLEF has not commented on the event, there is no mention on the ASLEF Website of the incident. No matter, it's merely another 'sidebar' in the 'war on terror'. - William Bowles
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I REPEAT - Thick padded Jacket in witness testimony...
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Brazilian did not wear bulky jacket
Relatives say Met admits that, contrary to reports, electrician did not leap tube station barrier
Mark Honigsbaum Thursday July 28, 2005 - Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead in the head, was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Metropolitan police, Vivien Figueiredo, 22, said that the first reports of how her 27-year-old cousin had come to be killed in mistake for a suicide bomber on Friday at Stockwell tube station were wrong.
"He used a travel card," she said. "He had no bulky jacket, he was wearing a jeans jacket. But even if he was wearing a bulky jacket that wouldn't be an excuse to kill him."
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Flanked by the de Menezes family's solicitor, Gareth Peirce, and by Bianca Jagger, the anti-Iraq war campaigner, she condemned the shoot-to-kill policy which had led to her cousin's death and vowed that what she called the "crime" would not go unpunished.
"My cousin was an honest and hard working person," said Ms Figueiredo who shared a flat with him in Tulse Hill, south London. "Although we are living in circumstances similar to a war, we should not be exterminating people unjustly."
Another cousin, Patricia da Silva Armani, 21, said he was in Britain legally to work and study, giving him no reason to fear the police. "An innocent man has been killed as though he was a terrorist," she said. "An incredibly grave error was committed by the British police."
Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder at 10am last Friday after being followed from Tulse Hill. Scotland Yard initially claimed he wore a bulky jacket and jumped the barrier when police identified themselves and ordered him to stop. The same day the Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said the shooting was "directly linked" to the unprecedented anti-terror operation on London's streets.
The following day Sir Ian apologised when detectives established that the Brazilian electrician, on his way to a job in north-west London, was not connected to attempts to blow up three underground trains and a bus in the capital.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has began an inquiry which is expected to take several months. Yesterday it emerged one armed officer involved has been given leave, and two have been moved to non-firearm duties. Ms Figuerdo condemned Sir Ian's decision to authorise the leave, saying she wanted to see the man who shot her cousin, and he should be in jail.
The body of Mr de Menezes is being flown to Brazil tonight for a funeral tomorrow. Simultaneously, a memorial service will be held at Westminster Cathedral, with TV coverage beamed live to Brazil.
Ms Peirce condemned Sir Ian's statements on the case, saying there had been a "regrettable rush to judgment". She was astonished that the phrase "shoot to kill" was being used as if it was a legitimate legal term; the family would demand "transparency" both as to the facts of what had happened and on the policy.
She added that the family were ready to cooperate with the complaints body, and she saw no reason for delay: "They know what their questions are and we see no reasons why they should not be answered. - Guardian
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When did he start running and who jumped over the ticket barrier?
Initial witness accounts suggested the Brazilian had vaulted over the ticket barrier at Stockwell station, causing further fear and alarm. Police now say he had in fact used his weekly Travelcard to get through. It now appears that the description of someone jumping over the barriers could in fact have been of a police officer in pursuit of his quarry.
scotsman
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More attempts made to Smear & Cover...
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Real story: Jean Charles de Menezes - an electrician, saving for his future
HE grew up surrounded by poverty and the crime that went with it. But Mr Jean Charles de Menezes managed to survive all that and find a living in London. His aim: Earn enough money to return to his native Brazil and set up a small business. On Friday, he died with his dreams when he became a victim of London's overzealous police.
The 27-year-old was mistaken for a terrorist and shot dead by police at a London subway station. Yesterday, when the Associated Press visited his home in Gonzaga, 800km north of Sao Paulo, his parents were heart-broken.
His father, Matzinhos, cried in the family's small concrete home with red roof tiles at the end of a rutted dirt road. He was holding a recent photo of his bare-chested son smiling while lifting weights.
During a trip home last year, Mr Menezes told family members that he was making good money and driving a relatively new pickup truck. His father, a bricklayer, was concerned London could be dangerous, but Mr Menezes told him not to worry.
'They don't have violence,' he recalled his son saying. 'It's good there, nobody walks around with a gun.'
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BROKEN INTO A THOUSAND PIECES
Mrs Maria Menezes, his disabled mother, was inconsolable.
She told London's The Times: 'Jean went to Europe to work, that is all, he went there for his family, to send us money. I feel like my heart has broken into a thousand pieces. I can't believe my son will never walk through our door alive again.'
She said her son's fascination with electricity began when he was a little boy, perhaps because it did not reach their home amid groves of banana and orange trees. When he was 10, he built a radio from scratch and decided he wanted to become an electrician, she said. 'He was just so happy to see that it worked,' she said in between sobs.
Mr Menezes worked hard at school, particularly at English, and was also a talented footballer, friends said. Despite a strong academic record, he left school at 15 so he could help to support his father who would go through occasional bouts of unemployment. Like many Brazilians, Mr Menezes moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, as a young man seeking work.
But after years of toiling as an electrician, he decided he would never be able to save enough.
By 2000, Mr Menezes decided to emigrate. His first choice was the US, but he was disappointed when his visa application was turned down.
The next year, he successfully applied for work in Portugal, before being granted a work permit in Britain.
The move brought to an end a long-term relationship with his Brazilian girlfriend. It is understood the pair had found it difficult to carry on a long distance relationship, reported The Times. Family members said Mr Menezes planned to return to Brazil later this year and had hopes of starting a business with his brother.
Mr Cleber Rabelo de Menezes, a cousin who lives in Brazil, said that Mr Menezes was planning to return in six months' time. 'He had already bought a van with his elder brother for them to share when he returned,' he said.
When Mr Menezes was killed on Friday, he was believed to have been on his way to repair an alarm according to his cousin, Mr Alex Pereira, who lives in London.
from this thread - original article no longer exists
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Flashback: Several hurt as Tube 'power' blasts
shut down network
07/07/2005 - 09:54:39 -
According to Tube infrastructure company Metronet, which is responsible for maintaining the Metropolitan line, today's incident was caused "by some kind of power surge". A spokesman went on: "We don't know the extent of the problem yet."
- IOL
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"The National Grid, which supplies power to the Underground, said there had been no problems with its system which could have contributed to the incidents."
back up of BBC story from the 7th July
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just an isolated incident?
Ethiopian refugee held in London bomb probe says police beat him - report
08.04.2005, 04:59 AM
LONDON (AFX) - A 52-year-old Ethiopian refugee who was detained for six days in connection with the London bombings claimed in an interview published today that British police beat and humiliated him as he was arrested.
Girma Belay, a Christian who has lived in London for 12 years, was arrested on July 22, the day after a series of failed bomb attacks on the city.
Belay told The Guardian newspaper that he was in a friend's apartment in Stockwell, an area of south London where police mistakenly shot dead a Brazilian man and made a string of arrests linked to the attacks, when officers burst in.
He was forced to lie on the floor with a gun aimed at him before being ordered to strip naked, at which point police pointed at his genitals and mocked him, Belay said.
'I was completely naked and then one guy -- I will never forget him, he was not in uniform -- he started punching me,' he told the paper.
'I was held against the wall, I was naked. I kept asking, 'Why is he hitting me?' and he said 'shut up' and punched me again. He punched and kicked me like he was a boxer training on his bag.
'Then someone intervened and the punching stopped.'
Belay was held at London's high security Paddington Green police station for six days of questioning before being released, with one officer telling him 'Sorry mate -- wrong place, wrong time,' the paper said.
The Ethiopian now suffers flashbacks and is seeking a formal apology from the police, he said.
- forbes.com
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er...Police Commisioner...the policy is right???
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CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS RECOMMEND CHANGES TO COUNTER THE TERRORIST THREAT
"To the family, I can only offer our deepest regrets," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair told Sky Television.
"I think we are quite comfortable that the policy is right, but of course these are fantastically difficult times,"
"It's still happening out there, there are still officers having to make those calls as we speak, Somebody else could be shot."
egyptguide.net
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below is an unverified release of a Press advisory notice hints at process of
deliberate confusion and smearing of facts/fiction
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Urgent Release For All Press
Talking Points for man mistakenly killed by UK police. The following
points should be emphasised in your reports:
The dead man is to be referred to as the "suspect" and never the "victim". The intent of these talking points is to cast suspicision onto the dead man and direct any criticism away from the police.
He was not Caucasian. Preferably he was of Asian or Arab appearance.
Do not just mention that he was (mistakenly) taken for a suicide bomber, but describe suicide bombings in detail. Especially the aftermath. The intention should be to frighten the reader.
Remind the reader what would (never say "might") have happened if the suspect "had" been a suicide bomber and the police had "not" shot him. Exaggerate.
Imply that he had a rucksack of the same colour, size, and design as preferred by real suicide bombers.
Blame the terrorists for his death and be sympathetic towards the police at all times.
When describing the man use imagary drawn only from the CCTV pictures of the real bombers. Conjour up the image of a suicide bomber.
Mention but do not discuss his innocence. Mention it only when necessary.
Belittle the suspect. Describe him in negative terms as poorly dressed, unshaven, and nervous, but also as a physically intimidating man, burly, agile, fit, dangerous.
It should not be written that he "failed" to obey police as failure may be construed as meaning that there was some other possible reason for his not stoping than presumed guilt. Avoid passive associations by describing his actions only with action words commonly associated with guilt such as "refused" or "resisted".
Give conflicting eye-witness accounts of the actual moments of the shooting so as to protect officers.
One witness thought he saw a "bomb-belt" on the suspect. Quote this witness extensively and as often as possible. Offer no speculation or implication that he may have been mistaken (which of course he was). Use his observation as if it was the sworn testimony of an expert in suicide bombings requiring no further comment.
The police began following the suspect after he left an apartment in the same block in which another apartment was under surveillance. Use this in such a way as to connect him to the bombers (by describing the apartment block as a "house", for example). Do not speculate that the police may have followed the wrong man.
Bury the information that the real bombers are still on the loose by mentioning some vague arrests but do not give details as those arrested in the early days of such crises invariably turn out to be innocent.
Avoid mention of the suspect's family (especially if it turns out he had a wife and kids) but report in depth on how sorry the police are. Use words like "regret" and "tragic".
Assert that the way in which the suspect "dived or fell to ground" was cause for suspicion in itself. Never connect this to the simultaneous shouting by armed police for every one to "get down" as this may contradict prior assertions that he refused to obey the police.
Report it as if "the regulations" required the police to shoot him.
Report that there will be an internal enquiry as if this is a magnanimous police gesture as opposed to mere routine. Report on the process but not the substance of the enquiry, and phrase process descriptions in terms of thoroughness, accountability, and above all sufficiency. Avoid mention of previous police-shootings that have resulted in public enquiries.
Don't mention the war.
Generate debate on the circumstances in which the police *should* shoot to kill, and avoid moral or legal issues. Frame the debate in terms of terrorism only and dismiss mistaken-identity arguments as left-wing or liberal.
If the suspect turns out to be non-muslim you should still continue to question muslim clerics on matters related to terrorism.
If the suspect does turn out to be muslim connect muslim sympathy or sorrow over his death with radical extremism.
Use the tiniest flaw in the suspect's character (drugs, fare-dodging, infidelity, etc) as ultimate justification. For example, "If he hadn't have been deaf, he would have heard the police and still be alive today..."
Utterly groundless speculation is allowed to be presented as fact only when it results in a positive image for HMG.
All other topics, speculation, criticisms of the police, or discussions, are forbidden.
bboard posting
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of course we have no way of knowing if this press advisory is true...
if it isn't it still remains an excellent piece of media observation
as all the above criteria in the 'press advisory '
seem to have been fullfilled by a Compliant News Media
regarding the various versions of the truth being propagated
and the obvious linking of Menezes with visa problems
and his 'heavy coat' , suspicious' mannerisms
running away from the scene etc
if this information is correct within this press advisory,
it would appear that we live in a de-facto POLICE STATE where
witnesses are INVENTED, actors are hired...roles are played out, a script is drafted & followed
as state sanctioned murder is covered-up, spun, and used as a tool of control
by racist smear campaigns from a Totally subserviant and ever devious corporate news media
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