BRITAIN: Two senior Brazilian diplomats joined the investigation yesterday into the shooting to death last month by British police of a Brazilian man they had mistaken for a would-be suicide bomber.
The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes (27) in a London underground train, as police hunted for men who a day earlier had left bombs that failed to explode on three trains and a bus, has prompted calls for London police commissioner Ian Blair to resign.
"We are here to see how the investigation works," Marcio Pereira Pinto Garcia of the Ministry of Justice told reporters as he and Wagner Goncalves of the Federal Prosecutor's Office arrived at London's Heathrow airport from Brazil.
They met Metropolitan police commissioner Ian Blair and deputy assistant commissioner John Yates, who again apologised for Mr de Menezes' death.
London police said the meeting was "positive and constructive" but did not focus on details of the case because of an ongoing investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which investigates all fatal police shootings.
The Brazilians will question IPCC investigators on Wednesday.
The IPCC complained last week that police initially resisted the investigation.
The failed bombings came exactly two weeks after four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on the London transport system.
Sir Ian, who initially praised the actions of his officers, has rejected the resignation calls and disclosed at the weekend he did not know they had killed an innocent man until 24 hours after the shooting on July 22nd.
Leaked documents from the IPCC investigation last week exposed blunders and cast doubt on initial accounts from police and witnesses that Mr de Menezes had been behaving suspiciously.
Relatives of the Brazilian have called on Sir Ian to quit because of police mistakes and information they say was misleading.
Last night they held a vigil and demonstration outside the Downing Street office of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is on holiday in Barbados.
Mr De Menezes' cousin handed a petition to Downing Street and called for a public inquiry into the shooting. He again accused the police of telling lies regarding the incident.
Sunday newspapers said undercover officers who followed Mr de Menezes after he came out of an apartment block they were monitoring did not believe he posed an immediate threat.
They were therefore shocked when armed police arrived at the train at Stockwell underground station in south London and shot him, the reports said, citing senior police sources.
- ( Reuters)