Thousands—although, reportedly, not the majority—of New York City police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio during his remarks Sunday at the funeral service for Officer Wenjian Liu. Liu was one of two New York City police officers gunned down late December by an assailant whom some have loosely tied to the #BlackLivesMatters protests that criticize excessive police force used against African Americans, a cause that de Blasio is said to have supported, the Associated Press reports.
“The show of disrespect” was exhibited even after New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton asked police officers to refrain from turning their backs on de Blasio, as hundreds of them had done during last week’s funeral service for Rafael Ramos, the police officer who was killed alongside Liu.
During Sunday’s service, de Blasio encouraged the community to come together amid all of the divisiveness plaguing New Yorkers and their law-enforcement community. “Let us move forward by strengthening the bonds that unite us, and let us work together to attain peace,” de Blasio said.
Retired NYPD Detective Camille Sanfilippo and retired NYPD Sgt. Laurie Carson were among those who turned their backs on de Blasio to “show our displeasure with the mayor,” as Carson put it.
“The mayor has no respect for us. Why should we have respect for him?” said Sanfilippo.
Read more at the Associated Press.