Police resume hunt for chemicals
It's maybe time for the police to consider the fact that they may have made a terrible mistake.
Having stormed into a house in Forest Gate on Friday and arrested two brothers, Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and Abdul Koyair, 20, their search for a chemical weapon has so far yielded naught.
I don't know how long it normally takes to find such things, but as we enter Day Four I think it's safe to assume they've looked in every nook and cranny of the Forest Gate abode.
Perhaps the fact that police shot Mr Kahar, apparently "without any warning, at close range" has made them more reticent about admitting any error. Indeed, It's made them more reticent about admitting anything. As we enter Monday morning the police have yet to confirm whether or not they fired the shot that wounded Mr Kahar on Friday.
Mr Kahar's solicitor, Kate Roxburgh, said one of the 250 police officers involved in the raid was responsible for firing the shot. But police have not confirmed they fired the shot.
She said: "He was woken up about four in the morning by screams from downstairs, got out of bed in his pyjamas obviously unarmed, nothing in his hands and hurrying down the stairs.
"He wasn't asked to freeze, given any warning and didn't know the people in his house were police officers until after he was shot."
She said Mr Kahar was "lucky still to be alive" and reports that he was shot by his brother were "absolute nonsense".
The family are being advised by the solicitor Gareth Peirce, who is representing the relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes who was shot dead by anti-terrorist police in a botched operation.
Each of the family had their DNA and fingerprints taken and were asked about the basement under their house used by the alleged terror suspects. They said they knew nothing about it except they had assumed it was a gym. None of the neighbouring family were arrested and they were released without charge. They have not been allowed to return to their home, which has been sealed off.
Gareth Pierce said, "They were never arrested, instead they were assaulted and unlawfully detained. Police officers are particularly warned that any blow to the head is potentially fatal. This was as lawless as the wild west."
A senior police source has explained how we all better get used to this new kind of police action in Sir Ian Blair's post 7-7 world.
"In other crime you can take a risk to firm up the intelligence. The trouble with this new world of terrorism is you don't have the time, you can't firm up the intelligence to the point you like.
"The public may have to get used to this sort of incident, with the police having to be safe rather than sorry."
Maybe I'm a terrible citizen, but I think I'll find it very hard to "get used" to living in a city where the police behave in this way.
At the very least one would expect the police to publish some kind of apology. Telling me to "get used" to it, doesn't reassure me at all.Click title for full article.
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