Jean Charles de Menezes 27
July 24, 2005
I met Jean last month in Guanabara- a Brazilian club in Holborn, through friends at my Capoeira class. I saw him there again the Saturday before he was shot, we exchanged a few words once more. On Friday 22/7 shortly after 10:00am he was pinned down by plainclothes policeman on the floor of a Northern line train at Stockwell tube station and shot in the head five times. I can’t say I knew him well, we talked about his time in the UK about his work as an electrician about pursuing women, the usual stuff. I think I bought him a drink, or maybe he bought me one. He seemed a good human being, I remember being impressed by his loyalty to his friends - he was very observant and sensitive to the people around him.
He was working legally as an electrician and had been in the UK for three years. He was resident in Brixton and had close friends in the Brazilian community. He was from Gonzaga in the State of Minas Gerais. Scotland Yard has stated he was “completely unconnected” with the attacks.
His English was good, but I wouldn’t say he was completely fluent. He was pursued by up to 20 normally dressed men who screamed at him in a language that was not his own. Jean comes from Brasil, a country where violent crime is a lot more ‘in your face’ than it is over here. A group of plainclothes men screaming at you, chasing you, you run. Brasilian police are known to shoot the public indiscriminantly, there was an incident last month - 30 killed. Maybe Jean had thoughts about this when he ran, I don’t know. Watch “Bus 174″.
I am shocked by this. It’s the first personal connection I’ve had to events and suddenly it comes into starker focus. What on Earth were the police thinking? Jean was so far removed from any terrorist links, so obviously not invloved. This ‘trigger happy’ event was a terrible error by the police and it seriously colours the impression I have of their ‘investigation’. Jean was an innocent young man, reacting with confusion to what sounds to me like police chaos and desperation. A shooting like this - and the manner in which it was carried out - is only justifiable in a situation of the utmost certainty. BBC article and photos of Jean.
Shoot first, ask questions later: Jean Charles de Menezes killed for nothing?
On Friday London police shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian national living in London, when he ran from police in the London Underground Stockwell Station. Why did this happen?
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Trackback by IO ERROR — July 24, 2005 @ 7:52 pm
Shoot to Kill
The Police admit that the man they shot on Stockwell Station was not a terrorist at all.
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Trackback by Exigency In Specie — July 24, 2005 @ 10:08 pm
What a very sad story…God Bless his family and comfort and protect them. My thoughts and prayers are with them. The innocent are paying for these ruthless crimes, where is the justice here? This is so wrong…How has the world turned to so much hate…the killers are getting away, and so will the ones who shot jean-charles…is this what is justice in the twenty first century? What is the world coming too…we can no longer trust people around us, nor can we trust the ones who are supposed to protect us, the police…pity..God Bless and protect us all.
Comment by goretti — July 25, 2005 @ 5:00 am
Hi, I am extreamely upset about Jean’s death, as a neighbour of Brixton as a foreigner who lives in London, as a mother and as a human being, I’ve been posting lots of comments about it and now I don’t know what to say anymore, so basically I would like to find out if is gonna be any act of support to his family or to condemn his death, so I can assist.If you have any info please e-mail me or post here.
Thank you
Comment by jesusa ricoy — July 25, 2005 @ 6:55 am
I feel so bad about this young man’s death and the manner in which it was executed. I use the word adviseably because he was most certainly an innocent, capitally executed in the name of facial/racial likeness; in retrospect, we learn that the police ” thought he looked like a Muslim “.
I remember the male witness of his shooting saying that the instant before he was shot, he saw the look on Jean’s face - he was petrified.
What a way to die - terrified, confused and innocent of any crime, in a country renowned for it’s justice.
When I first heard the breaking news of his death - of policemen falling on him and pointing a gun at his head, emptying 5 bullets into it - my thoughts followed thus:
” Why did they kill him ? They had overpowered him - surely it would have been better to arrest him and question him for information about the bombers? That would far better protect citizens - but I suppose the police knew what they were doing. I suppose they must have some deep knowledge of this young man or they wouldn’t have killed him outright.
Even so, could not the bullets have detonated any bomb hidden
on his body, thus killing the police themselves and the watching passengers?”
Of course, in the heightened tension of the recent bombings, the police have only seconds to make vital decisions. Moreover if I were in the vicinity of a possible bombing, I would be deeply grateful for police protection.
Never-the-less, I feel part of the collective responsibility for this tragic and unnecessary death; I think of his Mother and Family and their bewildered, shocked grief and I feel helpless to
offer them any kind of comfort because it is trite in the enormity and manner of their loss.
A million questions can be asked in Parliament or at an Enquiry, which must result in grovelling, if qualified, apologies but what consolation is that for them? In their place I would feel a raw, sobbing anger and nothing could console me.
Now, more fear in the minds of the Muslim population - because they also look like Muslims - surprise surprise. Should they also be chased and killed when going about their lawful daily busines
because they look like themselves? Well I’ve seen blonde-blue eyed Muslims so I suppose thery are safe from judicial attack…..
I remember long ago similar discussions about the look of Jewishness - and it was equally fallacious, apart from the use religious garb, for I’ve seen Christians who could be Jewish and Jews who didn’t carry the steriotypical looks.
Behind, above and beyond all of this are the politicians’ pathetic denials that their foreign policies have helped to lead to this tragedy - and 25,000 plus, more in Iraq.
It’s no use denying it because it’s an inevitable case of cause and effect. No, people SHOULD NOT place bombs deliberately in public places where people will die - it is against all humanity. But likewise, if people can find no respite, no extended hand of justice, no legal way for their grievances to be addressed, they will most certainly turn to what other ways are available to them. This has gone on for so long and the injustices of Israel / Palestine; Lebanon; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (By the way - how ARE things in Afghanistan these days? - Everything OK? -All the US/Brit promises been kept for going to war?).
This is the bigger crime and Jean ultimately paid the price.
Peace. Ha.
Comment by Thelma Gemmell — July 25, 2005 @ 8:01 am
I fully support the case for Pereira. Sue the police. They have made an aweful and unsupportable mistake and that this UK government does not do more to appologise is apporling. The officer in charge for the murder should be expelled to brazil and charged with manslaughter in court – after a visit to Flavela so he can experience how it is to be Brazilian…
Comment by Miguel de Sousa Pires — July 25, 2005 @ 8:27 am
The circumstances are unfortunate, but given the circumstances, justified. Plain clothes officers? yes, Were they chasing and not yelling stop! Police!? Doubt it! The enemy is not the police, it is the Islamic terrorists who created the situation. The police were focused and determined and believed they were saving lives. People should be thanking the officers for their extrodinary valor in a very difficult situation.
Comment by Craig — July 25, 2005 @ 9:31 am
I am appalled that this innocent man was shot in the head by police - it makes you feel sick to the stomach. If the police thought the risk so high that he was a suicide bomber, why did they ALLOW him to board a BUS, prior to going into the underground, and risk him blowing up passengers, and yet justify killing him rather than have him travel on the tube?
And who were the men two tall males in black suits, very short hair, with black briefcase, looking but saying nothing, going down into the station after the incident ? (too smart for doctors, forensic or the Sweeney)….these guys were ‘sharp’.
Comment by Rowena Thursby — July 25, 2005 @ 12:27 pm
Anybody who has kept a close eye on the media as events have unfolded over the last few weeks will have little doubt that many fishy things are going on. Even the shooting of Jean occured under strange circumstances and contradictory claims from the police and politicians. That public execution of an innocent man is a hugely significant event. We have to protest NOW before it becomes a daily norm. This country is not the slums of Brazil, it is Not Israel, it is not the third world. This is the UK. The Police can not be allowed to go around killing innocent people and particularly targeting people of dark skins due to their prejudices. My suggestion is that a fund be created in memory of Charles with the aim of bringing the trigger happy policemen who executed him whilst he was pinned to the floor. We should create a charity that will fight for justice in this particular case and to make the government reconsider the licence to kill they have given to the police. I am a web developer and would be more than happy to donate my time and money towards creating a website promoting such a cause. Please feel free to contact me on my email address supplied. Or please forward my details to the family of Jean.
Comment by Nothing is Black and White — July 25, 2005 @ 12:27 pm
I cannot believe the Police could be so incompetent.Surely they could have stopped Mr Menezes before he got to the station.
This was an avoidable tragedy.It is terrible for his family in Brazil
and his cousin in London.
Comment by Vincent Cassidy — July 25, 2005 @ 12:29 pm
the police were the terrorists that day
Comment by walker — July 25, 2005 @ 1:33 pm
Revoltante a atitude dos policiais britânicos. Sou brasileiro e fico aqui a imaginar se ocorresse o contrário: se porventura um inglês fosse morto por policiais incompetentes aqui no Brasil. Seria até um incidente diplomático. Culpados há e esses têm que ser punidos. Incompetentes!!
Não conseguem impedir os culpados e tiram a vida de inocentes. Afinal, quem são os terroristas?
Comment by Vicente Filho — July 25, 2005 @ 1:47 pm
I think this site says it best:
http://jeancharlesdemenezes.biz.ly/
Comment by Kat — July 25, 2005 @ 2:14 pm
While we can critisize the police, you never know what they are facing. A man with a coat runs on a hot summer day. Here in the US, he would have been shot the minute he ran, not wait till he got to the station. What if he was connected and he did have a bomb? Would we have called them HEROS? Absolutly. Because that is what they are, not matter what the outcome turned out to be.
Comment by From America — July 25, 2005 @ 2:56 pm
As a Brit, I have to say that I am deeply shocked by the cold-blooded murder of this innocent man! This sort of thing is not supposed to happen here. The right to live freely and peacefully is exactly what we are trying to defend! I am truly appalled and feel desperately for his family and firends…
Comment by Kate — July 25, 2005 @ 3:07 pm
It’s really a terrible story of Jean. I can understand the position of London police in that place. But, was once again it is proved in the history, that it’s always innocent people who’d be sufferers in any kind of war - let it be war on terrorists. Infact, I believe once again that the terrorists had their triumph. I don’t think the policy - ’shoot-to-kill-and-protect’ would leave London any more safer. I am also sure, that this time the Britons themselves have raised hatred against them in hearts of, at least, some Brazilians. And, this time the hatred is more than justifible.
The angry of friends and relatives of Jean is as justifiable as those who died in July 7th bombings.
Comment by Jay — July 25, 2005 @ 3:21 pm
The chief of Scotland Yard needs to resign over this incident. Just because the police is in a state of cowardly panick, does not mean that they can go right and left shooting people. The policeman that killed this fellow knew HE WASN’T SURE
Comment by gs — July 25, 2005 @ 3:28 pm
Yes, without a doubt, the terrorists have added another weapon against the innocent: the police mistakenly killing the people they were hire to protect.
Comment by nelson — July 25, 2005 @ 3:29 pm
I do understand all the need to garantee that british people feel secure again after the attacks that unfortunately have happened in London. Although a fault do not justify another fault, so I think that it is so sad that they go shooting anyone in name of their people security. It would be better to advice the forigners that London isn’t a secure place for them to live now, if they will shoot in any of them and then say that they need to garantee the british security. Brazil is a very peaceful place and there are so many british people living there. When the attacks happened they surelly found in all brazilians a word of compassion as the crime commited in all forms of terrorism is condemned for all brazilian people. So it is so sad that now we have Jean Charles’ family crying for his lost, the same way that the families of the people died in London’s attacks was crying. A tear do not justify another tear!
Comment by Regina Mendes — July 25, 2005 @ 3:53 pm
I do understand all the need to garantee that british people feel secure again after the attacks that unfortunately have happened in London. Although a fault do not justify another fault, so I think that it is so sad that they go shooting anyone in name of their people security. It would be better to advice the forigners that London isn’t a secure place for them to live now, if they will shoot in any of them and then say that they need to garantee the british security. Brazil is a very peaceful place and there are so many british people living there. When the attacks happened they surelly found in all brazilians a word of compassion as the crime commited in all forms of terrorism is condemned for all brazilian people. So it is so sad that now we have Jean Charles’ family crying for his lost, the same way that the families of the people died in London’s attacks was crying. A tear do not justify another tear!
Comment by Regina Mendes — July 25, 2005 @ 3:54 pm
I do understand all the need to garantee that british people feel secure again after the attacks that unfortunately have happened in London. Although a fault do not justify another fault, so I think that it is so sad that they go shooting anyone in name of their people security. It would be better to advice the forigners that London isn’t a secure place for them to live now, if they will shoot in any of them and then say that they need to garantee the british security. Brazil is a very peaceful place and there are so many british people living there. When the attacks happened they surelly found in all brazilians a word of compassion as the crime commited in all forms of terrorism is condemned for all brazilian people. So it is so sad that now we have Jean Charles’ family crying for his lost, the same way that the families of the people died in London’s attacks was crying. A tear do not justify another tear!
Comment by Regina Mendes — July 25, 2005 @ 3:58 pm
No words!
Comment by Vera Lucia — July 25, 2005 @ 3:59 pm
Go to hell f imperialist countries. F wirdo. Because of you this world is seek, just because of you this world is gonna be seek, adicted to work, adicted to prozac, adicted to money, to Funkin Donuts, to MC KAKA.
The Imperialist countries and you know well which one I am talking about.
GO TO HELL, andI dont give a shit when the people burn your national flags.
Comment by marco — July 25, 2005 @ 4:25 pm
This is so sad what happened to Jean. Everytime I see his picture it makes me feel so bad inside. We should all pray for him and hope it never happens again.
Comment by Sad — July 25, 2005 @ 4:58 pm
As every Brazilian living here in New York City, I was shocked by such brutality and lies. A lot or ” regrets” but no apologies either from Tony Blair, the Police officer,or either the spoke man who talked to Minister Celso Amorim. What a disgrace ! Of course if one is chased by many plain clothed men the first reaction is to run away and get protection.
Shame on you Tony Blair !!! Shame on you police officers”"
I do hope justice will be done in Menezes’ case, nobody has the right to kill for protection…
Stop killing inocent people…
Rest in Peace Menezes .
Comment by Marcus Tozini — July 25, 2005 @ 5:02 pm
Condolences, respect and thoughts go out to the family of Mr. de Menezes
That wasn’t a defensive shoot to kill strategy. That was an outright determined but yet misguided slaughter of an innocent. 8 shots? No doubt carried out by the same laughing and smiling young and immature gun wielding cops that we have witnessed relentlessly on the streets of London since July 7th, 21st. and onwards For those high ranking cops & Govt. officials that want to bring in a shoot to kill policy, I deplore you to GET IT RIGHT.
I would ask you to look long and hard at your training and the officers involved.
Lets hope that the perpetrators of this crime answer to Justice.
Yet again, UK Police, you have fouled up big time and have done nothing less than widen the gap between the citizen and your chronic selves
Comment by Dave Stewart — July 25, 2005 @ 5:27 pm
I am not British or Brazilian but I have been following this story with much interest. I think you are absolutely right. In situations like this, the public tends to forget the personal aspect of the situation. People who support the policy of “shoot-to-kill” under the minor pretense of pure suspicion forget that this was a person with his own friends and family. People merely look at him as a potential terrorist. I think it’s completely immoral and illogical and just plain dreadful that someone can be killed based on mere suspicion. It violates law and order in a civil world of courts and tribunals. It’s just terrible and I think by suspending the idea of due process in the wake of these attacks, our governments are adding to the destructive power of terrorism.
Comment by Adam — July 25, 2005 @ 5:35 pm
This poor man’s fate was sealed whether he ran or not because the rationale for shooting him after he was pinned down was no different than the rationale would have been when they shouted at him, namely that he could have detonated a bomb with the twitch of a finger.
I also believe the police wanted to quickly make an example of someone to use as a deterrant and he approximated the profile well enough to go after.
Comment by Maezeppa — July 25, 2005 @ 5:38 pm
It’s very sad that Jean was the latest casualty in this horrible set of events.
In my opinion, his death is a direct result of the actions from the evil terrorists / anarchists set to destroy the daily lives of civilized beings. The London police would not have killed a man running through the subway with a backpack if it were not for the recent events. They cannot be blamed for trying to protect the citizens. (Imagine what kind of reaction the citizens of London would have if the police had said that a terrorist detonated a bomb because he ran past them and wouldn’t stop when pursued).
Again, it is a very sad event and I feel for Jean’s friends and family. I would not however, blame the police for using any means necessary to prevent an individual from boarding a train with a backpack when he had been ordered to stop. This could have been another 50 persons killed if Jean had actually been a terrorist.
This is a very sad time for all of us.
Comment by Anonymous — July 25, 2005 @ 6:08 pm
Greetings from Brazil.
Thats a fatality.
He was in a wrong place at a wrong time.
Curitiba PR
Pedro Orso
Comment by Pedro Orso — July 25, 2005 @ 6:25 pm
Salut!
Can You give me a links to know and understand what he has happened in Brasil with the 10 personnes killed?
I’m in France, no information about that, but its interesseting me. If the fear is invahing us with States more and more hard, I need to understand to think without this fear. Dont’ cry, don’t laugh, don’t hate, but understand (Spinoza).
I’m very choking about the murderer on Juan Carlos, i’m i, pain with you. Very fraternelly.
I think its very hard what’s happening, “democraty” goes to fascism. What is the signification of a police which kill because your face and an anormal attitude?
Friendly.
Amel
Comment by Amel — July 25, 2005 @ 6:59 pm
we should wait for their last words.It is too early to get to the bottom of this case.I myself as a brazilian and living in different country would not comment on anything yet until the final words
Comment by mattson guedes — July 25, 2005 @ 7:57 pm
My deepest condolonces to the family of Mr. Charles de Menezes. As a physician, we have always tried to safe lives. When deaths occurs in our arms, I will feel personally ‘responsible’ although I have tried my very best to keep them alive. And now faced with the news of a young healthy innocent guy was shoot 7 times in the head, I am totally speechless! Can anyone explain what is going on with the civilised people of the ‘Great Britian’?
Comment by Salem Omar — July 25, 2005 @ 8:06 pm
I was shocked and deeply saddened when I learned that young Mr. Menezes was innocent. This was an unacceptable error on the part of London PD. How tragic and what a waste. I live in the US, and we not infrequently have police killing innocents. Just last week in LA, the LAPD killed a deranged man and shot his toddler daughter he was holding dead. Down the block from the house where I grew up, owned by my folks in a nice suburb in the BAy Area for 47-years, the SCPD shot and killed a young 22-year old man in front of his mother’s home because he didn’t stop driving fast early one morning last year! These senseless killings by police departments have to stop! They have to do a better job. It’s tough, but their actions have deadly consequences. sam
Comment by Shelley McKanna — July 25, 2005 @ 9:23 pm
God bless Jean and his family!
Tony Blair, you need to step up and not write this young mans life off as a warning to terrorists that you and your Thugs (police) mean business.
Comment by Paul — July 25, 2005 @ 11:32 pm
I read recently that the only thing that history teaches us is that history teaches nothing. The varnish of british rationality cracked with the London bombings, and the ugly animal that lives inside put out its ugly head and killed an innocent man. People just don’t realize that “an eye for an eye” makes everybody blind. I would like to hear Tony Blair talking about looking for the deep causes of terrorism and doing something about it. Instead I hear chest-beating and guns firing. And I believe this is how it will go on: escalating conflits on a planetary scale. Again.
Comment by José Azevedo — July 25, 2005 @ 11:38 pm
Like most others I am horrified by the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes, and I believe that this ’shoot to kill’ policy will result in the deaths of many more innocent people. What I find most disturbing is the fact that he was chased and killed after being confronted by PLAIN CLOTHES OFFICERS. Who in their right mind is not going to run when a bunch of strange men start screaming at you? Also, if the police had him down on the ground when they shot him then obviously they had already overpowered him and there was no need to pump eight bullets into his brain (yes eight). I believe that those responsible for this atrocity should be punished and that this barbaric policy should overturned, but I fear that it’s just the beginning of these type of police state measures. My heart goes out to Jean Charles’ family and friends, and I hope they get some sort of justice out of this (but I doubt it).
Comment by Janine — July 25, 2005 @ 11:42 pm
What was Tony Blair saying about the terrorists having won of they change the way the British live?
Comment by Paul C — July 25, 2005 @ 11:46 pm
Am concerned about further confirmation of eight bullets being pumped into Jean. Understand hot pursuit and maybe some were fired from a distance - but if the eight were at close range and all into the head I think we have to try to understand what was going on.
Comment by Brigid Walsh — July 26, 2005 @ 12:02 am
My family lived in England for a semester and we were always impressed with the affinity the English had for people of all nationalities and economic backgrounds. We felt fortunate to be in a country where we watched law and order rarely resolved by the gun. Unfortunately, the wild shooting Texan that one of my favorite politicians Tony Blair associates with has found some of that “Lone Star” mentaility on bloody hands of the Prime Minister.
Comment by Richard Quiring — July 26, 2005 @ 12:29 am
In the US and the UK, the time is long overdue for, an eye for an eye, a tooth for for a tooth. Consider who the very real terrorists are.
Comment by Joseph D'Amico — July 26, 2005 @ 2:14 am
All I can say is that it is truly tragic, Police are just as vulnerable to mistakes as the rest of us, and this was a tragic mistake made while trying their best to protect innocent people, though no one was in danger this time… except for demenezes
Comment by Matt — July 26, 2005 @ 2:26 am
My condolences go out to friend and family of this young man. The fault lies firstly with the police, but gung ho right wingers for the past four years have been sitting behind the safetyu of their desks and using the horror that was 9/11 to push their agenda down readers throats. This has undoubtly hardened people and forced both police, military and politicians to look and act tough.
In years to come, we will look at the right wing trolls that rant through our various media about ‘what needs to be done.’ A politician is a politician but a right wing columnist is a liar and a weasle.Right wing liarsk, your time will come, your epitaphs will be remembered as a collective curse.Your thoughts, lies and deeds will turn to cancer and rot your mortal frames.
From here in Ireland, where I live, to the US, right wing liars sip their cocktails and fawn about with each other in their bars after handuing in their lies to be published. May their cocktails turn to cyanide, and may their souls burn in hell alongside those writers and preachers that encourage young men to blow themselves up on trains. Their all as bad as each other, their grand daddy is Goebbells. Ann Coluter, Sayyid Qatb ( author of Millstones, the book that allegedly inspired Osama) dirty scum.
Comment by Geoff Dolan — July 26, 2005 @ 12:05 pm
Here in Ireland we are very shocked and depressed to hear about Jean de Menese death.What a tragic waste of a young life.
Deepest sympathy to his Parents and family.RIP.
Comment by Vincent Cassidy — July 26, 2005 @ 12:20 pm
Condolences, respect and thoughts go out to the family of Mr. de Menezes, it is tragic for anyone to die like that.
However, I really can’t believe a lot of the drivel I am hearing about this case. The facts as I understand them are:
(a) The man was in the country illegally (not in itself a reason for someone to be killed but still wrong)
(b) People are saying that he maybe didn’t understand English, then how did he get the necessary qualifications to work as an electrician in this country (the exams are in only in English and Brazilian qualifications are not recognised in the UK). We have to assume that his command of English was OK to have passed the exams and become an electrician.
(3) The ran when challenged by armed police who identified themselves in English.
It is an unfortunate accident, it shouldn’t have happened, but he shouldn’t have run either. If he had done as requested by the police he would probably still be alive today.
If you suspected a man was a suicide bomber, what are you supposed to do. If I was in a struggle on the floor with a man I suspected of being capable of detonating a bomb and blowing up me and other innocent people, I would shoot him in the head five times as well, wouldn’t you ?
Absolutely tragic, a real shame, but he really contributed to the end result by running when told to stop.
My feeling is that there should be a public enquiry, let’s at least try to learn from this awful mistake.
One final comment, people keep saying his family should sue the Government. Lets say that the Government looses and has to pay out say £10m, who do you think pays the money ? The Government is only spending OUR money, they don’t generate any themselves. All you “do-gooder let’s sue” type people should realise this. When the government pays for it’s mistakes, it pays with OUR money. As always, the silent majority picks up the bill and not people like the unfortunate late Mr de Menezes who as an illegal immigrant wouldn’t have been paying any Income Tax.
The Silent Majority.
Comment by The Silent Majority — July 26, 2005 @ 2:59 pm
Have a look at his parents … Doesn’t make you sad?
And I can’t understand why he should not have run — if you’re late for work, you can’t consider any normally dressed person as a plainclothes policeman. And being illegal is not an excuse for this sad murder. This just my answer to comment no. 13.
Comment by just a kraut — July 26, 2005 @ 5:31 pm
An innocent man is executed for/by the state and his death is used
as justification to sell the guilty party’s purpose. Strange perverted
logic.. christ forgive them.
Comment by Pete — July 26, 2005 @ 6:55 pm
Hey Silent Majority you are a hypocryte!
Comment by Frustrated — July 26, 2005 @ 11:10 pm
Do you know a Jean Charles de Menezes? I also do not know. Many people said why he ran? We can not know because he was killed.
Even if there was a reason to avoid a police to a victim, the reason is not related to bomb. Important point is Police killed him who did not related to bomb accident.
Comment by Daniel — July 26, 2005 @ 11:47 pm
What a disgustingly inhumane comment from ‘The Silent Majority.’
Immigrants - whether legal or illegal - have a right to life, and the police have a responsibility to protect and observe that right.
Non-taxpayers equally have a right to life, and the police have a responsibility to protect and observe that right.
However, Mr Menezes status and tax are irrelevant.
It is the police who are under scrutiny here, not Mr Menezes. He was innocent, and the police must now be held accountable. That is how the rule of law works, and the police must submit to that law, or else they will be found to be considering themselves above the law.
As for point (3), the police did not identify themselves. Please read the official police news release on the matter. A bunch of random plain-clothed men in a busy rush-hour area of London shouted god-knows-what at someone, who clearly panicked. We, as animals, are hard-wired with the ‘fight-or-flight’ response to sudden and potentially dangerous stimuli from the environment. The police know this and should’ve acted accordingly, but they didn’t.
Then, when they overpowered him, they still went ahead and killed him. It is a disgrace. An absolute disgrace.
I say it again: The police are the ones under scrutiny, held accountable, under the rule of law, for their actions. Anyone who considers themselves above, beyond, or removed from the rule of law in this country is, by definition, placing themselves on the wrong side of the law. Ask yourself why the police may not be held accountable for their own actions under the rule of law. They are in the business of upholding the rule of law, therefore they must not try to avoid its application to themselves.
Comment by Only Me — July 27, 2005 @ 1:36 am