Remembering Jean Charles de Menezes, the forgotten sufferer of 7/7
Ten years ago this week, Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by using the police on a tube train. within the battle against terrorism, we should no longer flip a blind eye to the shameful errors that ended in his dying
24 Jul 2015
Doves and sunflowers body a photograph of the younger man who died here 10 years in the past, shot seven times within the head as he tried to get to work on the Northern Line. take into account that him? Jean Charles de Menezes. An electrician. Brazilian, although he was flawed for a person of Ethiopian origin known as Hussain Osman, who the day prior to had tried to detonate a bomb at Shepherd’s Bush tube station. Wednesday marked the tenth anniversary of Mr de Menezes’s demise, a truth you almost certainly wouldn’t have realised had you not handed through Stockwell and viewed the local news cameras and individuals of his family who got here to hold a vigil. This anniversary was once barely pronounced or remarked on, retailer for a number of dozen tweets. it is nearly as if the 27-12 months previous has transform a mere footnote within the historical past of that terrible month in 2005.
Jean Charles de Menezes (left) and the suspect police were in search of that morning Hussain Osman (proper) picture: Heathcliff O’Malley
I take into consideration Jean Charles de Menezes quite so much, although i’m ashamed to claim that that is handiest because I go by means of that mosaic each day on my solution to work. For someone who uses Stockwell, the mundanity of the day by day shuttle seems at horrific odds with the rather extra special events of that morning, as laid naked on the inquest into his demise in 2008.
After the jury recorded an open verdict – the most harsh to be had to them once the coroner had eliminated the choice of unlawful killing – it was once widely suggested that Jean Charles de Menezes’s handiest “mistake” was once to have gotten off the number two bus at Brixton, best to get back on when he found out the station was once closed (officers saw this as a “typical anti-surveillance method”). but “mistake” implies that he must have somehow recognized he may become the goal of an enormous police operation, whereas the actual goal ran free; “mistake” suggests he by hook or by crook had some say in his fate. He didn’t.
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His other “mistake” used to be to have lived in the same block of apartments as Osman. Mr de Menezes then made the “mistake” of leaving the building as the officer in command of filming everybody who got here and went answered a name of nature, meaning de Menezes might now not be matched to the pale passport picture of the terrorist. What other “errors” did de Menezes make that morning? To have lived in a city the place the police power didn’t see fit to supply colleagues with a clear photograph of the man they had been after; to have had, in the phrases of one surveillance officer, “Mongolian eyes”. Mr de Menezes didn’t make the “mistake” of jumping the ticket barrier, as was briefed to the click at the time; he used his cross to enter Stockwell, before strolling down the escalator and making the “mistake” of running for the Tube – a mistake lots of Londoners make daily.
although the firearms officers who killed De Menezes claimed they gave warning that they have been armed, the jury at the inquest rejected this when it transpired now not one of the witnesses in the carriage had heard the decision of “armed police”. One passenger only realised what had took place when she noticed blood on her arms. The De Menezes household, who had been later spied on by using undercover cops, have now taken their case to the eu courtroom of Human Rights.
None of what i’m writing here is new, but it surely does endure repeating as a result of it is necessary we never forget what took place to De Menezes that morning, just as we will be able to by no means put out of your mind what took place to the 52 souls who misplaced their lives two weeks prior to him. I do not suppose the firearms officers involved within the capturing must be prosecuted and even vilified – they have been simply appearing on at a loss for words orders underneath extreme pressure. but the senior officers in cost? smartly that is every other matter completely.
but despite apologies, no one in the power was held responsible. If anything else, the opposite came about. Cressida Dick, the Gold Commander that morning, used to be promoted a number of occasions. She left the Met this 12 months and now holds a lofty “director common” position on the international place of work; she used to be given a CBE for services and products to policing in essentially the most contemporary New year honours list. Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner at the time, stated shortly after the shooting that “the agonising truth we have now to face is that every so often bad issues will occur, but no one is for my part to blame. It’s just like the fog of struggle.” Would this kind of defence rise up in courtroom if presented with the aid of a civilian? One feels it’s not going. Sir Ian stood down from the put up three years later, after apparently losing the boldness of Boris Johnson. How he didn’t lose the confidence of the mayor on the time, Ken Livingstone, is nearly past comprehension.
Ten years on, terrorism remains to be a chance. David Cameron mentioned this week that one of the best ways to deal with it was to beef up our personal values. perhaps lets start through no longer turning a blind eye to our own faults and failings.
Ten years in the past this week, Jean Charles de Menezes used to be killed by the police on a tube teach. within the combat in opposition to terrorism, we should no longer flip a blind eye to the shameful mistakes that ended in his dying, says Bryony Gordon
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