Jean Charles de Menezes: The killing that shamed justice
newstatesman: The revelations about the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes contained in the documents leaked to ITN will not have surprised the Brazilian's family, who revealed as early as 27 July that he was not wearing a bulky jacket at the time he was shot, did not vault the ticket barrier at Stockwell Underground station and could not have been said to be acting suspiciously.
They have now learned some further details that are equally shocking - for example, that de Menezes appears to have been in the firm grip of one officer when he was shot by another - but, for them, the picture is essentially the same. Nothing will bring back this innocent man, who died at the hands of people whose duty it was to protect him, for no other reason than that he lived in the wrong building, used public transport, and was a little dark in appearance. One officer referred to his "Mongolian eyes".
For policing and government, however, the new evidence has implications that take the breath away. The responsibility for delivering a first judgement lies with the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but the leaked documents (although the picture they paint is likely to be incomplete) leave little doubt that there is more to this than an individual error or even a chain of errors. Read more
db: Shortly after Mr de Menezes' execution - perhaps a day or two - Tony Blair was interviewed on TV [it's possible that I have a record of this] and stated that the decision to apply the methodologies of 'shoot to kill' - operation Kratos - 'didn't pass my desk'. How could that be? Because this is more than an 'operational issue' and goes to the very heart of the current debate concerning 'what does it mean to be British?'. Whatever the answer to that question my guess is that 'shoot to kill' is not part of it - and the sooner this failed policy is abandoned the safer all non-lilly-white Londoners will be.
Had the appalling cock-up at Stockwell led to the detonation of an explosive devise and with it the death of an innocent man - living in the UK legally or otherwise - operation Kratos would now be under review - or even defunct. But because the failure resulted in the shooting dead of an innocent man at the hands of the police - rather than his death in a bomb blast - somehow the police seem to believe that Kratos is still without doubt the correct approach. Bomb blast or execution - a innocent man died and Kratos failed all Londoners.
They have now learned some further details that are equally shocking - for example, that de Menezes appears to have been in the firm grip of one officer when he was shot by another - but, for them, the picture is essentially the same. Nothing will bring back this innocent man, who died at the hands of people whose duty it was to protect him, for no other reason than that he lived in the wrong building, used public transport, and was a little dark in appearance. One officer referred to his "Mongolian eyes".
For policing and government, however, the new evidence has implications that take the breath away. The responsibility for delivering a first judgement lies with the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but the leaked documents (although the picture they paint is likely to be incomplete) leave little doubt that there is more to this than an individual error or even a chain of errors. Read more
db: Shortly after Mr de Menezes' execution - perhaps a day or two - Tony Blair was interviewed on TV [it's possible that I have a record of this] and stated that the decision to apply the methodologies of 'shoot to kill' - operation Kratos - 'didn't pass my desk'. How could that be? Because this is more than an 'operational issue' and goes to the very heart of the current debate concerning 'what does it mean to be British?'. Whatever the answer to that question my guess is that 'shoot to kill' is not part of it - and the sooner this failed policy is abandoned the safer all non-lilly-white Londoners will be.
Had the appalling cock-up at Stockwell led to the detonation of an explosive devise and with it the death of an innocent man - living in the UK legally or otherwise - operation Kratos would now be under review - or even defunct. But because the failure resulted in the shooting dead of an innocent man at the hands of the police - rather than his death in a bomb blast - somehow the police seem to believe that Kratos is still without doubt the correct approach. Bomb blast or execution - a innocent man died and Kratos failed all Londoners.
posted by exoplanet at 2:00 PM
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