Murder in Stockwell
If you were in a foreign country and an armed man shouted at you to stop, would you stop? Or run?
How many people act suspiciously on the average tube train? How do you decide whether they are suspicious enough to merit execution?
There are other questions. Why did the police not apprehend Menezes in the street, with no one else around? Were only their lives at risk, would they still have felt justified in shooting him dead? What evidence led them to believe Menezes was a suicide bomber? He is supposed to have come from a house they were watching but why were they watching it? What intelligence can they have had, given that Menezes was not only not a suicide bomber, but not even a Muslim? Just a fairly dark-skinned man, who was wearing, they say, a thick jacket (although reports are now suggesting he was wearing a fleece -- is it so extraordinary that a man from a hot country should not feel that a London July morning is particularly warm?).
Why was he killed if he was pinned down?
Most importantly, if the police have decided that you are a suicide bomber, regardless that they have no evidence that you are carrying a bomb, regardless that your only crime is to have a darker skin than they do, given that they are then authorised to shoot you dead without any other say-so than their own decision that you are a threat, where is your court of appeal?
posted by Dr Zen @ 1:23 pm
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