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| Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions : Meditations XVII »
July 25, 2005
The Met : is lethal force now a part of life in London?
"I am very aware that minority communities are talking about a shoot-to-kill policy. It is only a shoot-to-kill-in-order-to-protect policy."
Thus spake Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, after the killing of innocent Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes by Metropolitan police officers on Friday.
There are too many currently unanswered questions about Mr de Menezes death so far.
Why wasn't he stopped during the two miles he travelled to Stockwell tube station?
Why was there no attempt to confirm his identity?
Why was he shot at point blank range after being subdued?
Who actually shot him - was it Met police officers, or special forces?
What made him panic and run? (Perhaps the fact that he started to be pursued by several anonymous, serious-looking and heavily-built men in a not-so-genteel part of South London?)
Who was responsible for the surveillance of the house in Tulse Hill, and why was there such confusion about who Mr de Menezes was and wasn't?
Is the presumption of innocence another victim of terrorism in London along with those who died and were injured on 7th July, and Mr de Menezes?
How many more innocent bystanders are going to be gunned down because of groundless suspicion, in the name of the War on Terror?
Posted by daen at July 25, 2005 03:08 AM