Hundreds of police officers turned their backs in protest of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) as he spoke Saturday at the funeral of one of their murdered colleagues, according to reports.
{mosads}As de Blasio eulogized slain Officer Rafael Ramos inside a New York church, officers in uniform outside turned their backs on a screen showing the mayor’s speech.
Law enforcement members from around the country had traveled to New York for the funeral of Ramos, who along with his partner Wenjian Liu, was shot and killed as they sat in their patrol car.
The progressive mayor has drawn the ire of police unions for expressing sympathy with nationwide protests over the killings of two unarmed black men at the hands of white officers.
The protests followed the decisions of two grand juries — one in New York and one in Missouri — not to indict officers in those deaths.
The head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, a police union, suggested that De Blasio had “blood” on his hands after the two NYPD officers were slain.
Officers also turned their backs on de Blasio the night of the shooting when he went to the hospital to pay tribute to the slain officers.
In his address at the funeral, the mayor praised Ramos and his family, and read a passage in Spanish to conclude the eulogy.