At the same time New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded with protesters to halt protests until after two slain officer's funerals, he also called on the police unions to stop releasing statements on the shooting, including ones stating the blood of the officers is on his hands, according to The Associated Press.
The police unions say de Blasio "fostered" anti-police sentiment even before the Eric Garner incident, and have gone to the extreme of signing a petition in order to keep the mayor out of the officer's funerals.
Now, after the shooting of the two officers on Saturday, De Blasio's relationship with the city's police unions has become even worse.
When de Blasio and Police Commissioner William J. Bratton visited the hospital where the officers were taken after the shooting and later died, all the NYPD officers present turned their backs on both men in form of a protest and demonstration of their disapproval.
At the hospital, Sergeants Benevolent Associations head Edward Mullins would not turn towards the mayor, and said the mayor had "turned his back on us - he got elected on his campaign of attacking the police all along."
The union leaders of the biggest and most influential police unions said the blood of the two slain officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio, according to the AP.
"Mayor de Blasio, the blood of these two officers is clearly on your hands," Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association said in a statement to his union members Saturday night, according to the New York Daily News. "It is your failed policies and actions that enabled this tragedy to occur."
Patrick Lynch, the head of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said: "That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the mayor." He then said that "those who incited violence on the street under the guise of protest that tried to tear down what NYC police officers did every day" are also to blame for the killings.
Police Commissioner William J. Bratton stood by Mayor de Blasio on Monday during his stops to visit the families of the slain officers, and when he spoke to a nonprofit police group. Bratton said representatives from the five unions had agreed to stand down until after the funerals.
