Ken Livingstone has attacked Conservative Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson following remarks on the BBC’s World at One programme today about officers involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.
Interviewed on the programme Mr Johnson said “I think the real reason Jean Charles de Menezes got killed in the Stockwell Tube was not just because the police were too trigger happy, although I think you could argue that they were, but also because if you look at the chain of events that led to up his killing he was accompanied by several police officers throughout that morning, several surveillance officers, and at no stage did they think it worthwhile or think it possible to tap him on the shoulder and inquire who he was.”
Attacking the description of the officers as “trigger happy” Mr Livingstone called on Johnson to “retract this slur against people who regularly put their lives in extreme danger to protect Londoners.”
However Mr Johnson rebutted the Mayor’s attack and defended his record on the issue saying: “in previous radio interviews and written articles I have already said these officers were as brave as lions.”
“We are able to sleep safely at night because of their protection. The point is that increasingly they are not being allowed to be brave because of health and safety rules. Officers asked to intervene before Mr Menezes got on the tube but were told not to and it was then when it all went wrong”.
Johnson also said he had received an apology from the BBC “for cutting me off half way through the interview.”
External Link: Listen to the full interview
