Armed police in London are laying down their weapons in an unprecedented protest against a decision to punish two officers who shot dead a man they believed was carrying a sawn-off shotgun.
Some 120 officers from London's 400-strong SO19 armed unit are refusing to carry their guns, saying they want "guidance, clarity and reassurance" about the rules governing their job.
They were backed today by Sir Ian Blair, who from next year will be head of London's Metropolitan Police, the most powerful police job in Britain.
The protest is unique in the history of British police and has raised fears for security at key locations in the capital including Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.
The protest was sparked by an inquest last week into the death of 46-year-old Harry Stanley, who was shot dead by police in 1999 after officers mistook a table leg he was carrying for a sawn-off shotgun.
The inquest ruled that Mr Stanley was the victim of unlawful killing, giving senior officers no choice but to suspend the two policemen who shot him - Mr Neil Sharman and Mr Kevin Fagan.
Many policemen say the two men were only doing their job and should not be punished. But victims' support groups said the jury at the inquest had been right to reject the police officers' defence that they shot Mr Stanley in self-defence.
In 1995, Britain's police voted overwhelmingly to remain unarmed. As a result, shootings by police are relatively rare.
London police say they received 14,000 calls last year about suspected firearms cases, and yet they have shot dead just seven people in the last eight years. That figure is dwarfed by police shootings in the United States and is lower than in many other European cities.
A recent rise in gun crime in Britain has refuelled the debate over arming the police but has not prompted widespread calls for them to follow the example of other European states and arm police.