Posted on 07/25/2005 2:10:28 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Relatives, Friends Mount Protest Over Killing of Brazilian in Britain
Published: Jul 25, 2005 GONZAGA, Brazil (AP) - Weeping relatives and friends of a Brazilian shot and killed in London after being mistaken for a terrorist protested Monday in this small farming town, saying an apology by British Prime Minister Tony Blair didn't go far enough.
Hundreds marched slowly along cobblestone streets, holding up banners denouncing British police as the real terrorists and demanding the arrest of the officers who fired the shots. Other placards were adorned with snapshots of Jean Charles de Menezes, urging Blair to send his body home so it can be buried.
"Apologies don't help, we want justice," they chanted, stopping briefly to offer a prayer for the 27-year-old electrician who left Brazil to work in Britain so he could return home with enough savings to start a cattle ranch.
Gonzaga's mayor, outraged over news Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, called the killing an "assassination."
"It's easy for Blair to apologize, but it doesn't mean very much," said Mayor Julio de Souza. "What happened to English justice and England, a place where police patrol unarmed?"
Many were angry that there is still no word on when the body might be shipped back to Gonzaga, a central Brazilian town of 6,000 where young men often head to the United States and Europe to finance a better life back home. Menezes was killed last Friday, and Brazilians traditionally bury their dead no later than 24 hours after a person dies.
"If they didn't want him alive, why can't' they send him back?" asked Leide Menezes, a cousin of the electrician, said from a sound system broadcast from the bed of a pickup truck to the crowd.
"We don't want apologies, he's ours and he should be here," added Maria Jose Carvalho, who has two sons working abroad in the United States.
Other cousins were upset that Blair's apology included a defense of British police, who he said were working under intense pressure to prevent more terrorist attacks.
"His apologies aren't easing our pain," said Arialva Pereira, one of Menezes' cousins. "He's not saying anything about punishing the police who did this, it's more like he's supporting them."
The march ended in front of the town hall, where the Brazilian flag hung at half staff in front of town hall and townspeople hung a large black sheet from the second floor as a sign of mourning for Menezes, killed in a London subway station as police investigated a wave of botched bombings the day before and the deadly transit bombings of July 7.
Witnesses said Menezes was wearing a heavy, padded coat when plainclothes police chased him into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him dead.
While Menezes' relatives said he was working legally in Britain and had no reason to fear police, the British Broadcasting Corp. said Menezes' visa had expired, suggesting a reason for why he ran.
Souza said the root cause of Menezes' death was Blair's decision to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. That prompted the wave of terrorist attacks, the mayor said.
"Gonzaga has nothing to do with terrorism and now it's been hit," Souza said. "Jean could have come back here and become a father, but now we'll never have a chance to have him with us again."
Menezes, called "Jim" by English friends, was believed to have been on his way to repair an alarm when he was shot, according to a cousin in London, Alex Pereira.
The killing probably won't stop Gonzaga natives from going abroad, said Regiani Castro, a 25-year-old who started a farm supplies store after working in Massachusetts for five years.
"They'll be scared, but they'll keep on going because that's the only way to guarantee your future here," he said.
AP-ES-07-25-05 1642EDT
My sympathy for the guy is officially ended. Can we do de Souza, too?
Yes. Nothing eases the pain line a chunk of money administered in one dose.
I salute the protestors ... with one raised finger.
Guess you haven't heard that there is a war on terror. Also, maybe you want to tell all your friends and relatives what "stop in the name of the law" means.
Yep. I understand the loser pays over in GB. Illegal ALien runs from police and gets shot? Lettum sue!
As the saying goes, it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't from the hand-wringer Leftist bunch.
All mouth, no solution.
All ten-gallon hats--no cattle.
What kind of a world do we live in when a man can't go into a subway system which was bombed twice in 2 weeks, leap over a turnstile, and run from police with guns drawn, when they tell him to stop?
I mean how far do we allow the requirement to obey the law to go? Pretty soon we will stop people from wearing suicide belts into subways. It doesn't mean they will explode them! the police have just gone too far!
They did the rational thing, which in this case was also the wrong thing. You can't blame them for acting rationally, but it led to the killing of a (somewhat) innocent person-- which is unambiguously wrong. A tragic mistake, but an understandable one.
"Has anyone actually protested the killing of 50+ innocent people on July 7?"
No, because people are AFRAID of the terrorists; Blair, Bush, America, etc. are easy targets for protest because people know not a d*mn thing will happen to them if they protest us.
Nope, just a stupid silent vigil in Trafalgar Square, when a proper "protest" would have been an angry march through London, burning 50 mosques to the ground...one for every person murdered...with a promise to do the same if any more attacks occur.
Right on.
And why is it that we here from this Brazilian guy's family, but I have yet to see articles about what all the brothers and cousins of any of the victims of the train bombings have to say?
7/7/05
Doesn't this guy read the newspapers?
A classic Catch-22 occupation: Action vs. inaction.
Taking a life is an awesome decision and made worse when faced with a split-second 'moment.' It is not a time for hesitation, second-guessing, and 'what if's.'
Unofficially some adhere to: "Better to be judged by 12, then carried by 6."
Yep. The global media is transfixed by this Brazilian turnstile-jumping imbicile, who ran when police--with guns drawn--told him to stop. Are they really shocked at how the terror-beseiged police responded to this dope?
And yep, as expected, the media has "move on" from the London bombing victims, as they always do.
Mr. de Menezes can be said to have committed suicide. You commit suicide when police with guns drawn order you to stop. This poor sap, who reportedly was living in England with an expired visa, had to learn his lesson the hard way. If I am ever around police with weapons at the ready and they say stop and hit the dirt I will do it so fast a mushroom cloud will rise up.
Yes, they call it Suicide by Police, but don't tell it to his "outraged" family.
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