After the murder of two of their own and believing it was due to the rhetoric by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his supporters, NYPD officers literally turned their backs on de Blasio as he entered a Brooklyn hospital to pay his respects to the slain.
A video, captured by WPIX11 News, showed a hallway at Woodhull Hospital filled with officers silently facing away from de Blasio as he walks between the rows.
The demonstration included the presidents of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association and the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the New York Daily News reported.
“Mayor de Blasio, the blood of these two officers is clearly on your hands,” Ed Mullins, president of the sergeants association, said in a statement Saturday night.
“It is your failed policies and actions that enabled this tragedy to occur. I only hope and pray that more of these ambushes and executions do not happen again.”
Patrick Lynch, head of the PBA, relayed similar sentiments in his statement.
“That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the mayor. When these funerals are over, those responsible will be called on the carpet and held accountable,” Lynch said.
Lynch also said that the anti-cop protesters shared the blame.
“We tried to warn,” he said, according to NYDN. “It must not go on. It cannot be tolerated.”
For his part, de Blasio did not seem to be too rattled by the silent demonstration by the officers. After passing through the crowd, he praised the slain officers, Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32, for making the ultimate sacrifice.
“These officers were shot execution-style, (a) particularly despicable act, which goes to the very heart of our society and democracy. When a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society. It is an attack on all of us. It’s an attack on everything we hold dear,” the mayor said.
“We depend on our police to protect us against forces of criminality and evil. They are a foundation of our society, and when they are attacked, it is an attack on the very concept of decency. Therefore, every New Yorker should feel they, too, were attacked. Our entire city was attacked by this heinous individual.”
Watch the video below:
