By David McCabe - 12-22-14 14:08 PM EST
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) called for political protests over alleged police brutality to be “put aside” in the immediate aftermath of the murder of two police officers.
“I think it’s important that, regardless of people’s viewpoints, that everyone recognize it’s a time to step back and just focus on these families. I think it’s a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in due time,” he said while speaking at a luncheon.
“I would ask that any organizations that were planning events or gatherings that are about politics or protests — that can be for another day,” he said. He asked that people focus on the families of the two officers, who were shot while sitting in their patrol car on Saturday in Brooklyn.
He spoke just days after the two officers were killed by a man who may have been motivated by anger over the decisions of two grand juries — one in Missouri and one in New York — not to indict white police officers who killed unarmed black men.
Those decisions have sparked protests around the country over what activists say is racial inequality in policing tactics and broader questions of police brutality.
De Blasio has also faced criticism in the aftermath of the killings from law enforcement unions and some conservatives who say that his reform rhetoric around policing has slighted the New York Police Department. Before de Blasio spoke about the deaths of the two officers, some uniformed officers turned their backs on him as he walked in.
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