NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- New York City police officers on Sunday again showed their anger at Mayor Bill de Blasio by turning their backs on him as he was delivering a eulogy in the funeral for slain police officer Wenjian Liu.
The show of dissent happened a week earlier at the funeral for officer Rafael Ramos, who was killed in an ambush along with Liu when the two were sitting in their patrol car.
The killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who killed himself soon after, had said he was seeking to avenge white police officers' killing of two unarmed black men this summer.
Politicians, police leaders and other mourners joined family members inside the Brooklyn funeral home to honor Liu.
Mayor de Blasio praised Liu as an example of a "brave" and "kind" New Yorker who came to the city from China and followed his dream to join the Police Department.
"We have lost a man who had embodied our city's most cherished values," the mayor said.
"Detective Liu's dream was clear and it was a noble one: to don the blue uniform, to pin on the badge, to dedicate himself to protecting and serving the city he loved."
As he spoke, police officers from New York as well as some of those who joined them in mourning from around the country turned their backs.
Some officers accused the mayor of encouraging anti-police fervor because of his support of protests against police brutality, which as a result led to an anti-police climate in the city.
Before Liu's memorial service, Police Commissioner William Bratton had urged police officers to be reverent and refrain from acting disrespectfully.
"A hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance," Bratton said in a memo. He said the earlier display put all New York Police Department officers in a bad light.
"It stole the valor, honor and attention that rightfully belonged to the memory of detective Rafael Ramos' life and sacrifice," his memo read.
Officer Liu, 32, came with his parents to the United States from China at the age of 12. He had served as a policeman for seven years and was married just two months when he and Ramos were killed on Dec. 20.
The funeral was believed to be the city's first for a Chinese-American officer killed in the line of duty.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday called Liu's and Ramos' deaths a tragic story of "pure and random hatred."
"What makes New York strong is that we take our diversity and make it a strength and not a weakness," he said earlier. "We have to stop any fights within the family."
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