Christian peace activist : UK police appear to act above the law

Veteran peace campaigner, William Spring, has accused the British government of “failing to face up to reality” after London suffered its worst rioting in decades following a fatal police shooting in Tottenham, north of the capital. UK police appear to act above the law, says Christian peace activist Spring, who is a resident of Tottenham, also said that the police gave the “impression of being above the law” by not being prosecuted for several killings, including the mistaken shooting of Brazilian engineer, Jean Charles de Menezes, by anti-terrorist officers in 2005. In an interview with IRNA, the director of Christians against Nato aggression (CANAUK) described the aftermath of the rioting as a “scene out of a war zone reminiscent of Beirut in 1980 or Northern Ireland at the height of the conflict in 1975,” with many fires still burning at Sunday lunchtime. “Britain should be recognised as a failed state and stop trying to put other houses in order by sending troops to such places as Afghanistan. The troops would be better deployed in Tottenham. The government was failing to face reality,” he said. Three police cars, a double-decker bus and several buildings were attacked and set ablaze during overnight rioting following a protest demanding 'justice' over the police killing of 29-year-old Mark Duggan last Thursday. “Nothing was done when permission was refused to allow the prosecution of police for homicide over the killing of de Menezes. It gives the impression that the police are above the law and there are other examples,” Spring said. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPPC) has ordered an investigation into the killing of Duggan, but he said “no one has got confidence about police investigations, which is still not independent as most of the IPPC members were former officers.” The police claimed that they responded in an exchange of gunfire but the long-time local resident believed that it may have even been a “pre-determined ambush” but added that no one really knows the facts and was why it was necessary for the investigation to be independent. Duggan himself is reported to be a gangster and was armed when police stopped his minicab but Spring said “the police do not have licence to shoot someone dead even if he was a gangster and was armed.” “England was turning into another Mexico with gangsters and the danger was that the police were becoming like another gang,” he told IRNA, suggesting that at least part of the answer was to bring back capital punishment.