Brazilian killed by police in London is mourned

GONZAGA, Brazil — Mourners crammed into a hilltop cemetery overlooking this farming town yesterday, showering roses over the coffin of the Brazilian shot and killed by London police after being mistaken for a suicide bomber a week ago.

Jean-Charles de Menezes' mother, Maria, almost collapsed in tears and was supported by her husband and relatives after she laid the first single rose on the coffin. People in the crowd released dozens of green and yellow balloons into the air, the primary colors of the Brazilian flag.

Then they applauded — a common Brazilian tradition at burials of dignitaries — just before the coffin was lowered into the ground.

Police estimated more than 10,000 people passed by the coffin earlier as it lay draped with the Brazilian flag at the São Sebastião Church in Gonzaga, a town of 6,000 where many head abroad to make money so they can return for a better life back home.

"Jean was very well-loved in Gonzaga," said Pedro Zacharias, a friend who works as a lawyer in the town hall. "He was a kind, gentle and very decent person who only wanted to help his family."

In London, friends and relatives lay flowers at the subway station where Menezes, 27, an electrician, was shot dead July 22 as he entered a subway on his way to fix an alarm. The shooting occurred as British police investigated failed transit bombings a day earlier and amid heightened security after deadly suicide bombings July 7 in London.

Though no protests were planned in Gonzaga, signs on buildings showed that residents still were outraged that British police had pumped eight bullets into Menezes as he boarded a subway train on his way to work. His relatives dispute accounts that Menezes was wearing a bulky jacket and ran from police.

"We Want Justice," said one sign. Another read: "Jean, Martyr of British Terrorism."

Witnesses said plainclothes police chased Menezes into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him. The killing sparked angry protests in Gonzaga, a town 400 miles southwest of Brasília and in the heart of a poor region that has long been Brazil's main source of illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe.

Menezes' family and the Brazilian government reacted angrily to a statement from the British Home Office implying that he was in Britain illegally because his student visa expired two years ago.

He had a stamp in his passport, apparently granting him indefinite leave to remain in Britain, but the stamp was not in use by British immigration officials at the time, the British Home Office said.