Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Another Police Shooting With No Reason?

On Friday 2nd June, a man was shot by armed police in London, during an "intelligence-led" house raid involving 250 police officers. We were told that they were expecting to find a chemical device or evidence of a homemade chemical bomb being manufactured. Four days later, it is becoming clear that there is no such evidence in that house.

I find disturbing parallels with the Menezes murder:

  • Immediate self-justification by the police, which evidence soon begins to whittle away
  • Active dis-information from within the police:
    Menezes: unofficial sources suggested he had jumped the ticket barrier, that he was wearing a heavy coat, that he was challenged, etc, etc. All these were shown to be false.
    Forest Gate: unofficial sources suggested that there was a warning (strenuously denied by the victim), that the gun was wrestled from the police officer in a struggle in the dark. It sounds quite incredible to me.
  • The Menezes shooting had clear evidence of a cover-up: CC-TV recordings going missing, clear evidence of the falsification of police officers' notes; without even taking into account the "usual" corrupt police practice of writing up contemporaneous notes after the event and after reaching a concensus with their colleagues.

There certainly aren't the independent witnesses in the case of Forest Gate shooting to get in the way of a police cover-up. What we certainly know is that there are to be no prosecutions as a result of the John Charles de Menezes murder, in spite of the huge amount of condemning evidence.

Ok, here's the bit to read before arresting me for "glorifying terrorism"... when justice is not applied by the justice system, I find it extremely easy to understand the motive of individuals or groups who make their own justice. The government entirely deny that their illegal war in Iraq has any connection with the "London bombings". But we've heard for ourselves in a video of the bombers (now deceased) that this was high in their motivation. It is very clear that when Brush and Blair stand down there is no intention to take them to face trial at The Hague on war crimes charges. How could I condemn revenge for the murder of an innocent Brazillian guy when justice declines to involve itself? How could I condemn revenge for the Forest Gate shooting, if all the evidence turns out to be that a guy who was not involved in any terrorist activity is shot in his pyjamas, without warning, after what we are told is months of careful intelligence gathering by MI5?

I could understand all of this, because if any country were to attack Japan, I swear that country would find me one of the most dangerous people on the planet.

1 Comments:

Blogger Tsuchan said...

On 10th June, the victims of the Forest Gate "anti-terror raid" were released without charge. They have now announced that they are to sue the police.

Spot on! This is the best chance we have to find out how the combined forces of MI5 over several months, the police in a raid involving 250 officers, and the government in the form of the Home Secretary, could have got this so apparently wrong.

Even now it will take some "Justice Deed" like character to uncover the truth. The state witnesses will undoubtedly try to hide behind a veil of secrecy "in the interests of security".

Well, now that legal action has been announced, the Government and police will undoubtedly refuse comment on the basis of sub-judice. Not much practical difference from their position to-date then.

11 June, 2006 21:39  

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