Wednesday, August 17, 2005
A Twist In Their Tale
This is not the sort of post I would make normally, but I think the metamorphosizing story of the death of Jean Charles de Menezes on the London tube is deeply disturbing and deserves all of our attention. Especially to those of us who have the 'wrong' skin colour and happen to live in cities where the terrorist threat is very real. It seems like Menezes could have been any of us. Scotland Yard's initial version of events went something like this:
Unfortunately for Scotland Yard, someone leaked a confidential report into Menezes's killing to ITV and it's been in the news since. According to the leaked report, this is what really happened:
I am willing to give Scotland Yard (who were working under very tough circumstances) the benefit of the doubt, however, and will wait to read the report of the full investigation before passing any further judgement. Any which way you look at it though, it's chilling to read about the effects of unrestrained power being handed over to law enforcement officials, even if they're as competent as Scotland Yard normally are.
In other news, Boing Boing points to an effort by prankster/gamer/performance artist Jane McGonigal to reshelve George Orwell's masterpiece, 1984, to the section in bookstores she believes it belongs to -- Current Affairs.
Man walks out of apartment building under surveillance, wearing heavy, padded jacket in warm weather (carrying a rucksack too, according to some reports). Police (in plainclothes) follow him/give him chase. Man refuses to follow police orders, runs away from cops, vaults ticket barrier and runs into train. Man pushed to ground and shot in the head 7 times.
Unfortunately for Scotland Yard, someone leaked a confidential report into Menezes's killing to ITV and it's been in the news since. According to the leaked report, this is what really happened:
Man walks out of apartment building, which was under surveillance. He was not carrying a ruck sack and was in fact wearing a light denim jacket, which is what a lot of Londoners wear in the summer. He boards a bus and arrives at the tube station. CCTV footage shows the man walking slowly into the station, picking up a free newspaper, calmly passing through the barrier, descending using the elevator, entering the train, and sitting down facing the platform. Police run into the car, restrain the man by pushing him back against his seat and shoot him in the head seven times and once in his shoulders. Three bullets miss.
I am willing to give Scotland Yard (who were working under very tough circumstances) the benefit of the doubt, however, and will wait to read the report of the full investigation before passing any further judgement. Any which way you look at it though, it's chilling to read about the effects of unrestrained power being handed over to law enforcement officials, even if they're as competent as Scotland Yard normally are.
In other news, Boing Boing points to an effort by prankster/gamer/performance artist Jane McGonigal to reshelve George Orwell's masterpiece, 1984, to the section in bookstores she believes it belongs to -- Current Affairs.
