Thousands pay their respects

2005-07-29 22:21

Gonzaga, Brazil - Thousands of mourners packed the Roman Catholic church on Friday in this small farming community, quietly filing by the casket of Jean-Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead by British police a week ago in London after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.

Sitting silently on a wooden pew a few metres from his son's flag-draped coffin, Menezes' father, Matzinhos da Silva, wept and covered his face with his hands. Menezes' distraught mother, Maria, was being comforted at a friend's home.

After a funeral Mass, Menezes was to be buried in a cemetery on a hill overlooking Gonzaga, a town of 6 000 where many head abroad to make money so they can return for a better life back home.

"Jean was very well-loved in Gonzaga," said Pedro Zacharias, a friend who works as a lawyer in the town hall. "He was a kind, gentle and very decent person who only wanted to help his family."

Estimated

By noon on Friday, police estimated that more than 10 000 people had filed past the coffin since it arrived in Gonzaga Thursday afternoon. The town's population had swelled by more than 2 000 people who came from surrounding communities, and many decided to pass by the coffin twice or more, said police Capt. Murilo Castro.

Though no protests were planned, signs on buildings showed that residents are still outraged that British police pumped eight bullets into Menezes as he boarded a subway train on his way to work. His relatives dispute accounts that Menezes was wearing a bulky jacket and ran from police.

"We Want Justice," said one sign. Another read: "Jean, Martyr of British Terrorism."

Holiday

Friday was declared a municipal holiday because "the entire town has been traumatised", Zacharias said. "It is as if everyone is carrying an enormous weight of sadness on their shoulders."

Witnesses said plainclothes police chased Menezes into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him. The killing sparked angry protests in Gonzaga, located in the heart of a poor region that has long been Brazil's main source of illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe.

Menezes' family and the Brazilian government reacted angrily to a statement from the British Home Office implying that he was residing in Britain illegally because his student visa expired two years ago.

He also had a stamp in his passport, apparently granting him indefinite leave to remain in Britain, but which was not in use by British immigration officials at the time, a Home Office spokesperson said.

In a statement, Brazil's Foreign Ministry said the status of Menezes' visa "in no way alters the responsibility of British authorities for the tragic death of an innocent, peace-loving Brazilian citizen".

"It must bear no influence on the investigation of the tragedy or on the measures the British government should adopt in terms of compensation to Jean-Charles de Menezes' family," the statement said.

- AP