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Muslim protesters demand raid apology
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| Abul Koyair and Mohammed Abdul Kahar were freed after being questioned for a week |
ANGRY Muslim protesters have called for an "unqualified apology" from police over the bungled anti-terror raid in which an innocent man was shot.
One of the Muslim brothers who was arrested in the raid, Abul Koyair, 20, led about 1500 marchers through east London yesterday.
They were joined by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazillian who was innocently shot dead by police after being mistaken for a terrorist in the weeks after the July 7 London bombings.
Marching under the banner "Newham demands justice", the protesters held aloft placards reading "Police brutality never makes us feel safer" and "How can we trust you if you see us all as terrorists?" and chanted "Shame, shame, Ian Blair, we will not live in fear," and "Shoot to kill you do allow, who commits terror now?".
The protesters, some of whom wore Brazilian football shirts in reference to de Menezes, marched past the family home which was stormed by anti-terror police and MI5 in the early hours of June 2.
Mr Koyair and his brother Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot during the
raid by 250 officers, were released without charge several days after being arrested.
Protest spokesman Muddassar Ahmad said: "We clearly want an apology - unqualified."
After the brothers gave a dramatic account of the raid at a press conference last week, assistant commissioner Andy Hayman apologised publicly for the "hurt" that "may have" been caused.
"I am aware that in mounting this operation, we have, caused disruption and inconvenience to many residents in Newham and more importantly those that reside at 46 and 48 Lansdowne Road," he said.
Mr Hayan also said that "specific intelligence" led police to the address. "While we have not found evidence of what we were looking for at the house, the intelligence received did raise serious concerns for public safety," he said.
But the Sunday Mirror reported that the intelligence was based on information from a man who was described as an "utter incompetent" after he was jailed for a terror offence earlier this year.
The newspaper claimed that Mohammed Abu Bakr Mansha, 22, a friend of the brothers, triggered the massive raid.
Mansha was jailed for six years in January for possessing the address of a British Army officer. Police suspected it was a part of a terror plot.
The brothers reportedly visited Mansha at prison, sparking a surveillance operation by security services.
2:24pm Monday 19th June 2006
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