UNITED KINGDOM: Vigil held to mark first anniversary of the killing of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes

A vigil was held on Saturday (July 22) to mark the anniversary of the killing of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by police who mistakenly thought he was a suicide bomber. Family and friends of de Menezes lay flowers near to where the 27-year-old electrician was shot seven times in the head on an underground train at Stockwell station in south London a year ago. Police wrongly believed he was one of four men who they allege tried to set off bombs on the underground and on a bus the previous day. On Monday (July 17) after a lengthy inquiry it was announced that police officers would not face criminal charges over the shooting, instead the Metropolitan Police force will be prosecuted under health and safety laws. The de Menezes family said the decision to prosecute under laws usually used to resolve minor incidents in the workplace was "shameful". The de Menezes shooting came amid high tension in London over the threat of suicide attacks. Just 15 days earlier four Islamists had blown themselves up on Tube trains and a bus, killing 52 people. The circumstances of de Menezes' death have been hotly disputed and his family and supporters have accused police of a cover-up over the killing. Eye witness accounts printed in newspapers the following day claimed de Menezes vaulted a barrier at the station and ran down an escalator. They also claimed the Brazilian was wearing a bulky coat which could have been hiding a bomb. Sources at the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which investigated the shooting, have dismissed those claims and said de Menezes walked into the station, went calmly to the platform and walked on to the train. Police chief Ian Blair has apologised to the de Menezes family for the killing but has been criticised for claiming at the time it was "directly linked" to police anti-terrorist operations. De Menezes has become something of a martyr figure for campaigners who say the police have ignored civil rights in a heavy-handed crackdown on terrorist suspects. Those accusations were fuelled by another botched police operation in June this year, when police shot and injured an innocent Muslim man in a raid on his house in East London.

ITN Source | July 23, 2006

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