Britain's most senior police officer, London chief Ian Blair, vowed to continue in his job this evening, despite calls for his resignation over the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man mistaken for a suicide bomber.
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot seven times after he boarded an underground train in south London on July 22nd, 2005, the day after four men tried to carry out suicide bombings on the capital's transport system.
The 27-year-old Brazilian had been mistaken for one of the failed bombers. At a meeting of the London Assembly local authority, the Metropolitan Police commissioner insisted he had the support of people in the capital and his own officers.
"I just want to get on with my job and that's what I'm going to do," he told the assembly, saying some of the calls for his resignation reflected "other forces at work".
"I have stated my position. If you have the power to remove me, go on," he said.
The assembly, made up of local politicians, passed a motion calling for Mr Blair to "consider his position and resign". However the body has no power to remove him and the vote was largely symbolic.
Mr Blair's role has become an increasingly political issue, with the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats calling for him to step down while Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government has given the under-fire chief its full backing.
The political divide was reflected in the often hostile questioning Blair received from Conservative members of the authority. They asked whether his position remained tenable after a jury convicted his force of endangering the public by shooting de Menezes.
Last week the London force were fined £175,000 sterling ($367,600) for putting the public in danger over the shooting and ordered to pay £385,000 in legal costs, a verdict Mr Blair said the police had now decided not to appeal.
Mr Blair admitted that he had made mistakes in the past but said it would be "utterly irresponsible" for him to resign over the issue, leaving his successor in an impossible position.