Mayor Bill de Blasio’s eulogy of a fallen officer was greeted by the backs of hundreds of police officers during the funeral held outside a Queens, N.Y. church.
De Blasio had come to honor Officer Rafael Ramos, who was ambushed along with another officer by a man who expressed anger at recent police slayings of unarmed black individuals. The police union pointed their finger at de Blasio for sympathizing with protesters, with the head of the most powerful union saying that the mayor had “blood on his hands.”
De Blasio’s remarks were broadcast on TV monitors outside the Christ Tabernacle Church, and offered condolences to teh Ramos family during his speech. The funeral was attended by 25,000 police officers from around the nation, stretching six city blocks, according to Fox News.
The uprising against de Blasio began when he arrived at a hospital after the shooting, and reports indicated that many police officers turned their backs on the mayor to show disrespect. Patrick Lynch, head of the police union, later issued an angry statement blaming the mayor for the shooting.
De Blasio attempted to calm the situation by asking demonstrators to halt protests until the situation settled down, and announced the arrest of a seventh person for allegedly making threats against the police after the shooting.
There wasn’t any reaction from the officers outside the church when the mayor arrived about a half hour before the start of the funeral, although one retired officer held up a sign reading “God Bless the NYPD. Dump de BLasio.”
However, as he began eulogizing, hundreds of officers turned their backs on the mayor.
De Blasio said the city was “grieving and grieving for so many reasons” because of the shooting, “but the most personal is that we lost such a good man.”
