[Mb-civic] CBC News - BRAZILIAN SHOT BY U.K. POLICE NOT CONNECTED TO BOMB ATTACKS

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BRAZILIAN SHOT BY U.K. POLICE NOT CONNECTED TO BOMB ATTACKS
WebPosted Sat Jul 23 08:45:48 2005

---British police say a man they killed on a London subway train wasn't
connected to Thursday's attempted bombings in the city's transit system.

The man, identified by police as 27-year-old Brazilian citizen Jean
Charles de Menezes, was shot in the head five times in front of dozens of
passengers on a train at the Stockwell subway station on Friday.

 RELATED STORY: Man shot dead in London subway linked to bomb
 probe: police




Police initially said the man was "directly linked" with the failed
attempts to bomb three subway trains and a bus on Thursday – two
weeks after 56 people were killed in four suicide bombings in the city's
transit system.

However, Scotland Yard issued a statement late Saturday clearing the man,
later identified as de Menezes, of involvement in the attacks.



"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of
Thursday 21st July 2005," said the statement.

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and
one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."

The police force said officers saw the man emerge from a house that they
had been staking out as part of the hunt for the bombers. They said
suspicions were aroused because he was wearing an unseasonably bulky
jacket and acting oddly, so they followed him and eventually chased him
into the station.



Officials said there will be an independent inquiry into the shooting.



Error fuels fears among Muslims

The admission of error further fueled controversy over the shooting,
which was the first public application of a policy to stop suicide
bombers devised after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

It gives police the authority to shoot suspected suicide bombers first
and ask questions later.

Police authorities said officers have to aim for the heads of suspected
bombers because they could have explosives strapped to their bodies.

Critics accused the police of having a "shoot-to-kill" policy.

The shooting further increased anxiety among the country's Muslim
population. A number of Muslim leaders expressed concerns about the
possibility of racial profiling by the police, especially given the
climate of fear in London.

The shooting may undermine confidence in the police, said Azzam Tamimi,
spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain.

Three of the four suspects identified by police in connection with the
July 7 bombings were British-born Muslims of Pakistani origin. (The
fourth suspect was a Jamaican-born British citizen.)

Police arrest 2nd man

Also on Saturday, police arrested a second man in London in connection
with Thursday's attacks.

The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was arrested in the
south London neighbourhood of Stockwell.

It's the same neighbourhood where police detained another suspect on
Friday and where they shot and killed the man at the subway station.

Subway station evacuated

London remained in a state of constant alert throughout the day.

In one of a number of security scares, British police briefly evacuated a
subway station in east London on Saturday after a passenger reported
smelling something burning.

The Metropolitan Police investigated, but dismissed it as a false alarm.

Authorities are reported to have cancelled all vacations for police
officers, in order to boost their numbers on the streets and carry out a
massive manhunt for suspects.



Images of suspects draw big response



Police officials said tips from the public have poured in after they
released photos of the four suspects, which were taken from closed-
circuit surveillance cameras in the British capital's subways and buses.
PHOTO GALLERY: Suspects' photos



Investigators are continuing to examine the remains of the knapsack bombs
left on three subway cars and on the top deck of a double-decker bus
Thursday. They're looking for fingerprints or DNA from the would-be
bombers, who escaped in the panic that followed, and trying to determine
whether the explosives were connected to the July 7 suicide bombs.

Police are also sifting through a large number of witness accounts and
photos from the Oval, Shepherd's Bush and Warren Street subway stations,
as well as the Hackney Road site of the bus incident.

A statement posted on an Islamic website in the name of an al-Qaeda-
linked group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks. The group,
which is calling itself Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed
responsibility for the July 7 bombings. The claims can't be verified.


A surveillance camera image of a suspect taken on Hackney Road bus. (AP
Photo/ Metropolitan Police)


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