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UK police watchdog apologetic about Duggan case

346256_Mark-Duggan

Press TV – January 18, 2014

Britain’s Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has offered an apology to the family of Mark Duggan for “wrongly” telling the media that the black man opened fire at police before he was fatally shot in 2011.

On Friday, deputy chairwoman of the IPCC Rachel Cerfontyne stated that the non-departmental public body is following “a number of significant lines of inquiry” surrounding the death of the 29-year-old.

An inquest jury ruled last week that Tottenham police in northern London lawfully gunned down Duggan on August 4, 2011.

Duggan’s death triggered the massive 2011 summer unrest across England. It was the worst social unrest Britain faced in a generation, unleashing street protests, fighting with the police and arson attacks.

“We know that the family’s confidence in us and our investigation was damaged by mistakes made in the early stages – both in relation to inaccurate information we provided to the media, and the initial management of the incident,” Cerfontyne said.

She added, “I would like again to record my sincere apology to them that on the evening that Mark was fatally shot by a police officer, a member of our staff wrongly led the media to believe that he had fired at police officers. I fully understand the damaging impact of this.”

Cerfontyne further noted that the IPCC is trying to interview key witnesses who have either declined to speak or have given conflicting accounts.

“Having assessed the evidence at inquest, there are initially a number of significant lines of inquiry which we are pursuing. These include following up concerns about the way the police responded to intelligence and seeking to interview some key witnesses who have so far declined to speak to or be interviewed by us or whose accounts are inconsistent with other evidence,” she said.

“We expect police officers to cooperate fully with us if required, including answering questions at interview, something they have so far refused to do,” the IPCC deputy chairwoman pointed out.

January 18, 2014 Posted by | Deception, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

UK Police shootings take another life

Press TV – March 4, 2012

The British police have shot a man dead during a “pre-planned” operation without any given reason, raising concerns that all the citizens facing officers in any potential operation could simply lose their lives.

The Greater Manchester Police said it can “confirm” that its officers were deployed on a pre-planned operation in Cheshire on March 3, which led to the death of an unidentified man.

The force did not clarify what prompted the shooting of the man whose car was stopped at around 7:20 pm by Cheshire police.

“As a result, one man was shot and suffered fatal injuries. This matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission who will be carrying out an independent investigation and Greater Manchester Police is unable to comment further at this stage,” the police added.

There were reports after the incident that the police were chasing a number of criminals at the scene.

The Cheshire Constabulary has tried to cling at the reports, pretending the victim has been a criminal.

The constabulary said the incident has been an “isolated incident” and that “there is no risk to the community as a whole”, yet the British police’s past record raises doubts that the community is indeed open to the threat of officers in shooting sprees.

East London police shot a member of the Ghanaian minority last month saying he has been involved in a car theft and that he had threatened the officers with a knife.

The police used exactly the same pretext for the shooting of the ethnic minority man as they used to justify the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan, which triggered some of the worst turbulence in the modern British history in August.

Officers shot dead the 29-year-old father of four in Tottenham area of London claiming he had fired at them.

However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) had to admit three months later that Duggan was not even holding a gun when he faced the officers.

The chain of police shootings, in ‘unclear’ circumstances, raises fears that the top brass in the force have given their officers free rein to use their guns indiscriminately, especially against suspects from minority groups, who would have received worst-scenario jail terms in case they were found guilty.

The case is especially worrying as no officers have been convicted for over 300 deaths in police custody or after arrest, recorded for the period since 1998.

The British police are now facing annual demonstrations against the persistence of police brutality and corruption.

During the latest such event in London back in October demonstrators marked the 13th consecutive year of their protest rally, distributing posters with names of 3,180 individuals killed in British custody since 1969, which should now be revised to 3,181 after the Saturday incident.

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March 4, 2012 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture | | Leave a comment