Police officers in New York defied calls not to stage a protest at the funeral of a slain comrade on Sunday, pointedly turning their backs as Mayor Bill de Blasio paid tribute to the murdered patrolman.
Despite an appeal on Saturday from New York police commissioner Bill Bratton not to protest against de Blasio, dozens of officers in a crowd of thousands appeared to turn away from giant screens relaying the mayor's address inside a Brooklyn funeral home.
De Blasio was paying tribute to murdered police officer Wenjian Liu, 32, who was shot dead with partner Rafael Ramos, 40, on December 20 as the pair sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn.
The murders in broad daylight shocked America's largest city and saw members of the police turn furiously against de Blasio for having supported protesters calling for police reform.
The gunman in the killing of Liu and Ramos, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had announced on social media that he intended to attack police officers in apparent retaliation for the deaths of two unarmed black men killed by police.
The nationwide protests over the deaths of black men at the hands of police exposed a schism between de Blasio and New York's police force.
New York police had been enraged by comments from the mayor that he counsels his biracial son to be particularly careful around police officers.
However, New York police chief Bratton had urged officers not to use Liu's funeral as a platform to air their grievances with de Blasio.
"A hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance," Bratton wrote in a memo.
"I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it."
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