After being in a massive war about this on another forum, I really can't be arsed getting into another one here, but these actions were deplorable and should be dealt with accordingly.

I think the police here do a great job, my family are half police and my best friend is just about to finish his training and get his posting

At the end of the day, this man put up no resistance, he was walking away with his hands in his pockets, when he was attacked, unprovoked, from behind. Minutes later he died of a heart attack. If he hadn't been attacked he could very well have been alive today, the stress of incidents like this increases the chance of a heart attack in even super healthy individual by a factor of six. If this policeman hadn't lost control, this guy would be alive now.

They didn't step up and admit it, they:

a - didn't mention that the police attacked him, only that "protestors hindered paramedics"

b- then insinuated he was drunk, as they insinuated De Menezes was on drugs. (both claims false, by the way)

c- only held their hands up when caught on camera

I'm proud of our police force, they're even-handed and fair in the vast majority of cases, but in order to remain so, incidents like this must be dealt with accordingly, not swept under the carpet.

Yes it was a tense day, yes police had to deal with a lot, but there is never any excuse for forces of the Law to act like this, saying "it was the heat of the moment" makes it merely culpible homicide as opposed to murder.

Recently here a man was punched in the face in a shop and died, there was massive public outrage, no-one said "oh yeah well he obviously wasn't a very sturdy individual"; so saying this poor bastard was "due to drop" is no excuse whatsoever, especially when terrifying and stressful events like this can up the risk of heart attack by up to 35x.

To sum my thoughts up:

The police here do a good job, but it's their accountability which makes them great, this must be dealt with.