A cousin of Jean Charles de Menezes, the young Brazilian electrician murdered by Metropolitan Police CO 19 firearms officers, yesterday demanded those responsible ‘must face justice’.
He also demanded that Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair resign.
Reading out a statement at a family press conference near Stockwell, Alex Alessandro Pereira called for the truth to be told about his cousin’s shooting and accused Ian Blair of letting his family suffer.
Pereira said lies had been told about his cousin such as that he was a suspected terrorist, that he looked like a suicide bomber, that he was wearing a big jacket and that he ran from police.
He said his cousin Jean Charles was an innocent man who had come to London ‘full of dreams and hopes’.
He added: ‘I want Ian Blair to imagine how we felt having to listen to the lies about Jean . . . to see Ian Blair on television telling those lies.’
Pereira said: ‘I want Ian Blair to think how it felt having to ring Jean’s mother and father, our family in Brazil, and tell them that their son was dead, that he was killed in such a way.
‘The police know Jean was innocent and yet they let my family suffer, they let us suffer, Ian Blair let us suffer.
‘For three weeks we have had to listen to lie after lie about Jean and how he was killed.
‘The police hurt my family. They couldn’t even tell us the truth. They did not tell the truth.
‘Ian Blair does know my cousin wasn’t a risk. Why did he lie to us.
‘My family has many questions.
‘We want to know what evidence has been lost or imagined.’
Yasmin Khan, from the Jean Charles de Menezes’ Family Campaign, said there were three issues to consider, the first being the ‘shoot to kill policy’, and the second the ‘incompetence of the police on the day’.
‘Thirdly the attempted cover-up and misleading by Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police and with government officials colluding with this,’ she said.
She urged supporters to attend a vigil to be held outside 10 Downing Street at 6pm on Monday.
Justice campaigner, Helen Shaw from Inquest, was asked what she thought Pereira meant by his demand that the police officers who killed his cousin be ‘brought to justice’.
Shaw replied: ‘I think he feels, on the basis of what he knows at the moment, that there should be a criminal trial.
‘And I think that’s why we’ve got to see the outcome of the Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry and a decision will be made at the end of that as to whether any criminal charges will be brought against the officers involved.’
Asked would she support criminal charges being brought, she said that ‘in any case like this we have to have that as a possibility’ but ‘we shouldn’t pre-judge the outcome’ of the IPCC inquiry.
She added that calls for the resignation of Met Commissioner Blair were another matter.
‘There are some major concerns about Sir Ian Blair in terms of not correcting the misleading information that was out there about Mr de Menezes.
‘And also about the allegations that he tried to stop the IPCC taking over the investigation.’
Asked did she want Ian Blair to resign, Shaw said: ‘I’m fully supporting the family. I think that he’s got some really serious questions to answer.’
• Second News Story
BOSSES SPIES’ FILMING GATE GOURMET STRIKERS
PAUL Baulch, a leading T&GWU official, told Gate Gourmet strikers yesterday afternoon that ‘the security firm ISS hired by Gate Gourmet is driving past in vans filming our demonstration on the grassy knoll and the demonstration outside the fctory.
‘It is intimidatory and inciting I don’t know if it is legal.
‘We have informed the police but we have not yet had a response.
‘As Tony Woodley said “this is a bandit company employing US-style trade union busting tactics”.’
Over 100 pickets were at the roundabout, some 300 yards from the Gate Gourmet plant yesterday early morning and were in high spirits despite the very heavy rain.
Those who spoke to News Line were adamant that there was only one way that the dispute could be won and that was by bringing the whole of Heathrow out.
Mrs Gill told News Line what the situation was like when the dispute exploded after some very provocative management actions.
She said: ‘The last day inside we had a really hard time. We were sitting from about 8.45 until 4pm.
‘We weren’t able to go to the toilet. If we went to the toilet they took our ID cards and escorted us out.
‘At 4pm police and security people came in. They said please leave and when we didn’t they moved in.
‘They brought two female security guards to take one of us. She fell and they dragged her out.
‘We want our jobs back. We are not slave labour.
‘It is going to take the whole airport coming out for us to win.’
TGWU official Paul Baulch condemned British Airways for opening up a phone line to gather information to use to victimise workers.
He said: ‘It is unprecedented. It is asking people to whistleblow on colleagues for alleged bullying and harassment.’
