THE Brazilian electrician shot dead by British police last week after being mistaken for a suicide bomber has been buried in his home town, amid an outpouring of local grief and anger over the killing.

Up to 10,000 people filed by the coffin of Jean Charles de Menezes before his funeral Mass and burial ceremony which took place yesterday afternoon in the municipal cemetery in Gonzaga in the southeast of the country.

Thousands of mourners packed the Roman Catholic church in the small farming community. Sitting silently on a wooden pew a few yards from his son’s flag-draped coffin, the victim’s father, Matzinhos da Silva, wept and covered his face with his hands. Mr Menezes’s mother, Maria, was being comforted at a friend’s home.

Mourners threw flowers on the coffin as it was lowered into the ground and balloons in the colours of the Brazilian flag were released into the skies.

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

Extra police were drafted in to manage the crowds. They numbered almost double the town’s population, with many travelling from outlying communities and neighbouring towns to pay their respects. Businesses were closed after the mayor declared a day of mourning and many residents hung Brazilian flags draped in black and banners denouncing Britain for the killing. One banner read “Jean — Martyr of British Terrorism”.

Britain’s Ambassador sent flowers but there was otherwise no British presence, following advice from the Brazilian Government.

The funeral came amid anger in Brazil at the disclosure by British authorities on Thursday that Mr Menezes probably had a forged visa stamp in his passport. Brazilian diplomatic sources told local media that they viewed the timing of the disclosure as “an act of extremely bad taste and opportunism” and an attempt by the British Government to manipulate public opinion over the case.

Mr Menezes’s brother Giovani told the Folha de São Paulo newspaper that his brother had said he had a multiple entry two-year visa allowing him to work legally in Britain.

“Even if it is true that his visa had expired, that does not justify what the police did to him,” Senhor Menezes said.

In an official statement, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Thursday’s disclosure, saying: “Without entering into the merits of the latest information, it is the understanding of the Brazilian Government that it in no way alters the responsibility of the British authorities.”

The statement demanded that the legal status of Mr Menezes have no bearing on the investigation into his death or compensation for his family.

It is not the first occasion since the death of Mr Menezes last week that Brazilian officials have been angered at what they see as British attempts to manipulate opinion over his killing at Stockwell Underground station.

Mr Menezes, 27, was shot eight times by officers.

The Menezes family continues to dispute British police claims that he was wearing a heavy padded jacket when he was shot, that he vaulted the station’s ticket barrier to run away from police and that he was in Britain illegally. They also want to know why, if British police considered him a potential suicide bomber, they let him board a bus before confronting him.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy- O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, described the shooting of Mr Menezes as a “grave error”.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor returned early from his annual pilgrimage to Lourdes for a Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral for the Brazilian.

The Mass was led by Father Frederico Ribeiro, the chaplain to the Brazilian community in London. The congregation included relatives and friends of Mr Menezes.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, who delivered a message at the end of the Mass, said that he welcomed the investigation into the shooting.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, he said: “The police themselves, under the Home Secretary, will want to look at their policies. It is important that lessons are learned. It is a matter of public concern.

“When the truth is known about exactly what happened, I think there will come about some kind of healing among the Brazilian community and indeed among the family of this unfortunate man.”

Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, who is overseeing the investigation, called on the Home Office to stop issuing “partial information” after government officials released details about Mr Menezes’s immigration status. He asked people to “shut up” until his independent investigation had established the facts.

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