Protesters demand apology for fruitless London terror Raid
'Pakistan Times' UK Bureau

LONDON (UK): Several hundred protesters took to the streets of an east London neighbourhood Sunday to demand an apology for an anti-terrorist raid that turned up nothing.

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and Abul Koyair, 20, who are brothers, spent several days in custody following the June 2 raid in Forest Gate -- during which Kahar was shot -- only to be released without charge.

"We clearly, clearly want an unqualified apology" from Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Metropolitan Police, said Muddassar Ahmad, spokesman for the protest organisers.

"If you're going to apologise, apologise properly," he said, "don't apologise for 'hurt'," as the police did in a statement Tuesday after the brothers went public with an emotional account of the raid.

The raid, less than a year after July 7 suicide bombings in London in which 56 died, saw police officers tear through the house in what turned out to be a fruitless search for clues of a homemade chemical weapon.

Many of those protesting Sunday carried banners and chanted: "We will not live in fear". Their route was to take them past the local police station.●