London again, terrorist...boom?

[GNEP]

And Mosque in East London surrounded.

[The PIT]

Haven't heard anything about the Mosque being surrounded but I've heard about the shooting. Looks like the police risked a bit by diving on the suspect before shooting him. They could be all dead by now.

I see four poor quality pictures have been issued of the bombers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4706421.stm

I bet the civil liberties/pc wallies will be upset by the shooting.

Anyway looks like a future of suicide bombings in the UK from now on.

[The PIT]

Big wake up call judging by the News this evening.

The MCB seem very unhappy that one of their brothers was shot dead. Sorry sir you can't risk it when dealing with suicide bombers.

[Jammrock]

I love British frankness. The MCB (Muslim Counsel of Britain, or some such) released a statement asking:

It's vital the police give a statement about what occurred and explain why the man was shot dead - MCB

To which was given the reply:

Clearly the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention - Sir Ian Blair

Now, he may have been talking about the terrorists, but it just looked like he was replying to the MCB in the BBC article.

Jammrock

[schmosef]

Another passenger on the train, Anthony Larkin, told BBC News the man appeared to be wearing a "bomb belt with wires coming out".

Perhaps the shoot to kill policy involves people wearing a "bomb belt with wires coming out"?

[paulcs]

Haven't heard anything about the Mosque being surrounded but I've heard about the shooting. Looks like the police risked a bit by diving on the suspect before shooting him. They could be all dead by now.

I see four poor quality pictures have been issued of the bombers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4706421.stm

I bet the civil liberties/pc wallies will be upset by the shooting.

Sounds like Scotland Yard and the Brazilian Embassy are joining the PC wallies in being upset:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4711021.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4706913.stm

I suspect a clarification of the shoot to kill policy is forthcoming.

Paul

[GNEP]

Well, to quote a friend of mine, because he put it quite succinctly:

The future response to the bombings by our government and police scares me more than the bombings themselves.

[Lizzard[MPE]]

if the guy shot had nothing to due with the bombings.. why was he running from the police in the first place?

[paulcs]

if the guy shot had nothing to due with the bombings.. why was he running from the police in the first place?

Well, I can't say for sure, but apparently the police were in plainclothes and had been following Menezes since he left his apartment. (The Guardian is reporting the police had been watching the address since Thursday.) A witness to the shooting claimed he looked like he was petrified.

I'm just speculating, but he may have noticed he was being tailed, panicked, and ran. Again, I'm just speculating. He had been in the UK for three years, and his family claimed he was well-educated, Roman Catholic, and understood English. I haven't seen a statement from the Metropolitan Police on whether or not the officers involved identified themselves. They have issued a statement that they were "satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday, 21 July 2005. For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police service regrets."

Paul

[Brian Ellis]

If you saw three burly youngsters dressed any old how (to blend in with the locals) taking an interest in you in a quarter of London noted for muggings and other violence, would you just stand still?

I hope the police have the guts to charge the policeman who shot the bloke with murder, because that is what it was, pure and simple. He needs to be made an example of, to discourage other trigger-happy cops. I find it significant that he discharged 5 rounds into the guy's head. If he had been in control of himself and he believed that it was necessary to kill him, one round would have done the job; the other 4 "in quick succession at point blank range" is evidence that he was in a state of panic and therefore incapable of the discernment necessary to do his job. Especially as the hand guns used by the police are 9 mm automatics; I guess there was not much left of his head

Another point that troubles me is that this murder took place in a crowded tube train, where anyone could have been injured from just one round ricochetting, let alone 5. This also shows lack of discernment.

Yet another point is that the guy fell headlong while fleeing from these men who had apparently not identified themselves as police and who were not wearing the obligatory minimal black baseball cap with the chequered stripe when handling firearms. He was therefore spreadeagled and probably winded; he could easily have been immobilised by 3 trained cops without any need to shoot him.

Not only is Blair "riding pillion behind Bush", he seems to be importing US police methods of kill first and ask questions afterwards. I think most Brits here would agree with me that this is the surest way of degrading public confidence in the police force.

[GNEP]

Very well put Brian. I hoped that we had learnt from the er, "arrests" in Gibralter in the late 80s. Clearly not.

[Rob(QG)]

It gets me that the best way to stand up to terrorists is not to be terrorised - and I think the British public do pretty well at not being intimidated by bombs and such.

Yet now we have public places full of people with guns, including submachine guns - yeah that would make me feel much safer! Just when would it be safe for a cop to open up with a machine gun in a crowded public place??

I actually said to my mum when I first heard about the shooting that the chances were that they had murdered an innocent man.

If the government really wants to make London safer, then they should get out and stay out of the middle east and concentrate efforts and money on breaking our dependence on oil, and thus our need to meddle in the middle east.

[Brian Ellis]

As a rider, the Home Secretary, as being in charge of the Metropolitan Police, should be forced to resign, along with the MP Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair. If they had an ounce of decency, they would have already done so, as soon as they realised that one of their subordinates had murdered someone, aided and abetted by two others.

[Wombat]

As a rider, the Home Secretary, as being in charge of the Metropolitan Police, should be forced to resign, along with the MP Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair. If they had an ounce of decency, they would have already done so, as soon as they realised that one of their subordinates had murdered someone, aided and abetted by two others.

Why? Show me one reason. Yes, a man was killed. Yes, that's truly horrible. But until it's shown that they were encouraged to act this way by the entire institution, or they were under direct orders to behave this way, I can't see how blame goes that high up.
Or, while you're at it: clearly, this is the government's fault. Why aren't you expecting all of Parliament to resign? Maybe all of London's taxpayers should kill themselves, too. It was their tax money that allowed this to happen.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yes, this whole parlaimentary thing of firing a minister just because underlings do something stupid never did make any sense to me. MAYBE if they were on a cell phone to him asking "should we waste the SOB?", but othereise it's nonsensical.

IMO it would make more sense for the UK (and others) to stop admitting all the in-trouble-at-home islamo-fascists they do under their immigration programs. Talk about shooting ones self in the foot, knee, hip, belly button.......

Dr. Mordrid