On the day the NYPD buried a fallen hero, its rank and file continued their bitter grudge against Mayor de Blasio.
Hundreds of city cops, joined by colleagues from across the nation outside Christ Tabernacle Church, greeted the mayor’s eulogy of Officer Rafael Ramosby turning their backs in protest.
The officers stood Saturday morning on Myrtle Ave., watching the Ramos funeral on large video screens, when de Blasio stepped to the pulpit — and they spun in protest.
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Two NYPD officers said the anti-City Hall demonstration was spontaneous. It spread quickly through the sea of blue on the street in Glendale, Queens.
The cops stood mutely as the mayor’s words of praise for both Ramos and the NYPD echoed across the cool December morning, falling on deaf ears.
Officers from other departments who came to the funeral joined the New York contingent in dissing the mayor, whose remarks were greeted with no applause and a lack of emotion by the thousands of cops on the street.
“I’ve got nothing personal against the man, but in solidarity I wanted to do it,” said Deputy Juan Guzman of the Alexandria, Va., police. “So many out-of-state officers did it. It wasn’t planned. Everyone just started to do it.”
NYPD officers pulled the same move one week earlier when de Blasio arrived at Woodhull Hospital after the stunning double murder.
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch said the mayor had “blood on his hands” after the killings last weekend in Brooklyn.
But the union leadership toned down the rhetoric after de Blasio issued an appeal for calm until Ramos and his slain partner, Wenjian Liu, were buried. Lynch downplayed the funeral protest.
“We have to understand the betrayal that they feel,” he told CNN. “But today, we come in mourning, and tomorrow we’ll debate.”
Mayoral spokesman Wiley Norvell declined to comment directly on Saturday’s back-turning.
“The Ramos and Liu families, our police department and our city are dealing with an unconscionable tragedy,” Norvell said. “Our sole focus is unifying this city and honoring the lives of our two police officers.”
One of the officers who joined in Saturday’s protest echoed Lynch, blaming the mayor’s comments about the NYPD for fostering anti-cop attitudes since his January inauguration.
“If you stand up in a movie theater and yell, ‘Fire!’ and somebody gets trampled, you’re responsible,’ ” the officer said. “If the fire chief stands up in the same theater and says the same thing, it’s even worse.”
Union leaders have said cops don’t feel supported by de Blasio. They were incensed by the mayor’s backing of Rachel Noerdlinger, the former chief of staff for First Lady Chirlane McCray, despite anti-police comments made on social media by her son and boyfriend.
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