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Top cop refuses to step down
07/11/2007 19:12 - (SA)
London - London police chief Ian Blair vowed to continue in his job on Wednesday, despite calls for his resignation over the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man mistaken for a suicide bomber.
At a meeting of the London Assembly local authority, the
Metropolitan Police commissioner insisted he had the support of
people in the capital and his own officers.
However the Assembly, made up of local politicians, passed a
motion calling for Blair "to consider his position and resign"
although it has no power to force him out.
"I just want to get on with my job and that's what I'm going
to do," Blair told the Assembly, saying some of the calls for
his resignation reflected "other forces at work".
He said: "I have stated my position. If you have the
power to remove me, go on."
Blair's role has become an increasingly political issue,
with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats calling for him to
step down while Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed him.
The political divide was reflected in the often hostile
questioning Blair received from Conservative members of the
Assembly.
They asked whether his position remained tenable after a
jury convicted his force last week of endangering the public by
shooting dead electrician Jean Charles de Menezes.
The 27-year-old was shot seven times after he boarded an
underground train in south London on July 22 2005, the day
after four men failed in a botched attempt to carry out suicide
bombings on the capital's transport system.
The Brazilian had been mistaken for one of the men.
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