Fatal Error Heightens Tensions

The fatal mistake has increased tensions in a city that saw 52 commuters killed by four British suicide bombers July 7, and a botched attempt to copy those bombings last Thursday by four men now the subject of a citywide manhunt. Police yesterday announced a second arrest under the Terrorism Act in south London's Brixton neighbourhood where the shooting of Menezes occurred. The Sun reported yesterday that a man arrested Friday was suspected of having left a bomb inside a backpack on a bus last Thursday. The bombs left on three trains and a bus last week malfunctioned. It's believed that only the detonators exploded. Police described Menezes' shooting as "tragic" and offered "regrets." The news sent shock waves through the city's Muslim and visible minority communities, who fear police are now taking a "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude. "This is very frightening. People will be afraid to walk the streets, or ride buses or carry anything in their hands," said Azzam Tamimi, head of the Muslim Association of Britain. Especially disturbing is that Menezes' skin colour — eyewitnesses had initially described him as Asian-looking — appears to be one of the factors that turned him into a terror suspect for police, Tamimi added. Brazilian news media reported Menezes was an electrician who had been living legally and working in England for three years. "He spoke English very well, and had permission to study and work there," Menezes' cousin Maria Alves told the O Globo Online website from her home in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian foreign ministry said it was "shocked and perplexed" by the police shooting of Menezes and said it would demand an explanation. Police said the man was followed because he "emerged from a house" that was under surveillance as part of the investigation into last week's bombing attempts, which injured one person. He was followed by officers to the Stockwell underground station and "his clothing and behaviour added to their suspicions," police said in a statement yesterday. Witnesses described the man as wearing a jacket too thick for the warm weather. None of the witnesses cited in media reports say they heard the plainclothes officers identify themselves as police before jumping Menezes. On Friday, Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair told reporters "the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions." Blair had also said that the shooting was "directly linked" to the anti-terrorist operation. On Friday, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said traditionally unarmed British police were following a "shoot-to-kill policy" when faced with someone they thought might be a suicide bomber. John O'Connor, a former commander at the Metropolitan Police, described the shooting error as "disastrous." "This couldn't have come at a worse time. It's very tempting to go down the path and think, `My God these guys are so trigger-happy.'" O'Connor said the way Menezes was killed made him believe the people giving chase were members of the military's special forces rather than police. If that's the case, the men will never be identified or punished, he added. Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain, said police must immediately explain why they believed an unarmed man on the ground posed a threat. "The eyewitness reports we had was that this man was tackled to the ground, and the police jumped on top of him. That doesn't sound like it was absolutely necessary to shoot him dead. It sounds like they already had him overpowered," he said in an interview. Bunglawala said the Muslim community accepts that police are under great pressure to prevent further bomb attacks. He then demonstrated how a local incident is filtered through Muslim perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, making the anger felt by some in the community all the greater. "There really is a fear within the Muslim community that these are Israeli-style tactics now being employed on the streets of London," he said. "Shooting innocent people dead is one Israeli tactic we can do without." He said his council received several reports of "young Muslim men going about their everyday business suddenly being forced to the ground by plainclothes officers. And they're now very fearful." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1122155414228&call_pageid=968332188492 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 25, 2005]

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