LFC1984 comments

Three words people: fundamental attribution error.

Without knowing much, much more about the deceased's situation it is obscenely arrogant to presume that we know how we would have acted in those circumstances. For the same reason, it is silly to try and adjudicate the actions of the individual police officers.

What we can do instead is reflect on the system that brought these circumstances about (as this article does, to its credit). This is a system in which, as we know, thousands of people overstay their visas for extremely long periods of time. Are those people nihilistic or evil? Of course not. It is ignorant and self-serving to insist that they are all "bad eggs" that deserve whatever punishment comes their way because they "chose" to act unlawfully.

The presence in a society of such widespread illegality reflects poorly on the structure and norms of the society, not our brothers and sisters who are breaking the law. It is only when we realise that we are all in this together, and start taking responsibility for each other's actions, that we can put an end to the type of situation that caused this tragic loss of life.