'No reason to shoot Brazilian'

2005-07-24 10:04

London - British police faced calls on Sunday to explain why they gunned down an innocent Brazilian man in the hunt for the London bombers, as hopes grew that a growing pile of clues about the twin attacks could bring a breakthrough.

Brazil's foreign ministry demanded an explanation into the "lamentable error" which saw 27-year-old electrician Jean Charles de Menezes pursued through a subway station before being cornered and shot repeatedly in the head.

British Islamic groups called for a public inquiry into the shooting, worried that the Asian ethnic origin of some of the bombers could see Muslims targeted by police.

But newspapers and London's mayor called for understanding.

The carnage of the July 7 bombings, in which four suicide attackers and 52 others died, and the near-miss Thursday when bombs used in a repeat attack seemingly failed to explode properly, meant police faced an impossible situation, they said.

Terrified subway passengers scattered in panic on Friday morning as plain-clothed police pursued Menezes, who relatives said was going to work, through Stockwell Underground station in south London.

Witnesses said the Brazilian - described as looking "like a cornered rabbit" - fell to the floor in a train carriage before a policeman standing directly above shot him five times in the head.

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets," London's police force said on Saturday in their first admission they had killed an innocent man.

Initially, police said Menezes was linked to Thursday's attacks, noting that he was wearing a thick coat on a warm summer day, prompting fears he could be carrying explosives.

Massoud Shadjareh, head of the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, called for a full public inquiry.

"How can you shoot someone on mere suspicion? You can't even put someone in prison on suspicion, how can you kill them like that?" he said.

"This is very frightening, people will be afraid to walk the streets now," said Azzam Tamimi from the Muslim Association of Britain.

However, London's Mayor Ken Livingstone said police had done "what they believed necessary to protect the lives of the public".

Sunday's newspaper agreed that however tragic the outcome it was difficult to blame police for taking the action they did.

If a suicide bomber is merely wounded "he can massacre in his final seconds of consciousness", the Mail on Sunday noted in its editorial.

"In the London of July 2005, few would want the police to take any chances.

"And bear in mind that if the Stockwell suspect had been wearing a suicide belt, the officers who shot him would be lauded as heroes and loaded with medals, as well as the thanks of a grateful public."

As the controversy raged, the police investigation into the bombings appeared to be advancing at speed, with much information gathered from the four failed rucksack-based bombs abandoned on Thursday.

According to The Observer newspaper, documents found in one of the rucksacks have led police towards a potentially vital clue - a possible link between the two sets of attackers.

According to the paper, some of the suspected bombers from Thursday are believed to have been on a whitewater rafting trip in Wales attended by two of the July 7 bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shahzad Tanweer.

The trip could even have been a "bonding" exercise for all concerned, meaning the attacks were planned jointly, the paper said.

Two men have now been arrested in what has become one of Britain's biggest-ever manhunts. Both were detained during raids Friday in Stockwell, near where the Brazilian man was shot.

Police said on Saturday that almost 500 people had called them after they released security camera images of the four suspected bombers, which were plastered over the front pages of Saturday's press.

"Detectives are now working through the information from the phone calls and e-mails and are hopeful that there will be significant lines of enquiry to follow," a police statement said.

Additionally, officers raided an apartment in the Streatham area of south London, not far from Stockwell.

But nerves remained on edge in the British capital.

A park in northwest London was cordoned off Saturday as police said they were investigating a suspect package found there, which according to one report had nails and bolts packed around it and wires protruding.

An examination "suggests that the object may be linked to devices found" on Thursday, police said in a statement.

- AFP