Operation Kratos...

....or martial law on the streets of London.

I have spent a lot of time in London these last 2 weeks and travelled regularly by Tube. Friday was one of those days and coincided with the end of the Jean Charles de Menezes inquest.

Jean was a Brazilian in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot on a tube train by police officers on 22 July 2005 wrongly believing hime to be a terrorist about to detonate a bomb. After the 7/7 bombings earlier that month the anti terrorist units within the Met were on high alert with several sightings of suspected suicide bombers in the days immediately afterwards.

In one way Jean was another victim of those bombings. But I have felt the agony of his family and been unnerved about what our police have been asked and trained to do in what amounts to shoot first and ask questions later. Operation Kratos is the strategy. Kratos the god of war.

So we had the coroner effectively endorsing this startegy by refusing to allow the jury to return a verdict of unlawful killing and the jury showing what they thought of that by returning an open verdict with sone highly critical comments on the anti terrorist operation that day.

I imagine I will be returning to London before too long. And I will be travelling by Tube. Defiantly. Defying those who would wage jihad against us and who have brought martial law to the streets and transport network of our capital.