Heat On Brit Police Over Shooting

A cousin of the Brazilian mistakenly shot by police who mistook him for a terrorist accused London's police chief, Ian Blair, of lying about the killing and demanded his resignation Friday.

"I have always believed that those who break the law should be punished, and some people have broken the law," said Alessandro Pereira, 25, shedding tears as he read his statement at a nationally televised news conference in London.

"They have killed Jean and then told lies. ... My family wants the truth. For the sake of my family, for the sake of the people of London, in Jean's name I say that those responsible should resign. Ian Blair should resign," he said.

Pereira's cousin, Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot in the head seven times by undercover police who followed him onto a subway train on July 22, believing he was linked to a failed bomb attack on London's transit system the previous day.

Two weeks earlier, 52 commuters had been killed by bombs on London subway trains and a bus in the first reported suicide bombing in western Europe.

However, recently leaked documents from the official complaints commission investigation into Menezes' killing appear to contradict original statements by London's Metropolitan Police that the Brazilian had been behaving suspiciously.

Blair has apologized for the killing, but on July 22 he told journalists that Menezes had failed to obey the instructions from the surveillance police who were following him, suspecting him of being a suicide bomber.

In the heightened state of anxiety following the failed terrorist attack one day earlier, witnesses reported that Menezes was wearing a heavy padded coat and jumped over ticket barriers at Stockwell subway station before bolting toward a train.

The Metropolitan Police never contradicted those claims.

However, the documents leaked to ITV News suggest that Menezes, an electrician, walked casually into the subway station and was wearing a light denim jacket.

After descending the escalator and running to catch his train, Menezes took a seat in the carriage and was pointed out to armed police by one of at least three surveillance officers who had followed him onto the train.

The surveillance officer says he then "heard shouting which included the word 'police,"' ITV reported. Menezes stood up and walked toward the surveillance officer, who tackled Menezes and pushed him back into the seat, then "I heard a gunshot very close to my ear and was dragged away on to the floor," the officer said.

On Thursday, the London police were accused of initially opposing the independent investigation into Menezes' killing, and of covering up what actually happened.

Blair denied any wrongdoing.

"This is not a cover-up. ... Those allegations, I have to say, do strike at the integrity of this office and the integrity of the Metropolitan Police, and I fundamentally reject them," Blair said in an interview with London's Evening Standard newspaper.

Blair also denied trying to block an independent inquiry, saying that it was vital to continue with the counterterrorism investigation.

But Pereira said his cousin didn't look like a suicide bomber the day he was killed and wasn't running from police, despite what witnesses and police have said.

"The police ... they met my family. Yet they still didn't tell us the truth," Pereira said. "Did they think because we are poor Brazilians, we don't deserve the truth?"

Asad Rehman, an activist working with the Menezes family on a campaign called Justice 4 Jean, also demanded Blair's resignation.

"We believe that the integrity of Ian Blair and his office has been questioned, and we think the majority of London ... would agree with us that Ian Blair should resign," Rehman told the news conference.

Brazil's government said it was "outraged" by the reports about Menezes' killing, and said it would send two officials to Britain to meet with the commission investigating the killing and London police.

Brazil expects the officials to "obtain ample clarifications" about the killing, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday in Sao Paulo.