washingtonpost.com:
In an emotional speech at a sometimes heated news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) declined to address the swirling controversy over whether his vocal efforts to reform the police department contributed to Saturday’s execution-style slaying of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. Instead, de Blasio appealed for calm, visited the officers’ family members and urged residents to “put aside political debates and protests” for now.
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton met with the heads of the city’s police unions, including one who had accused de Blasio of having “blood” on his hands for allegedly inciting protests that have roiled the city and the nation over the deaths of unarmed black people at the hands of police. “They are standing down in respect for our fallen members until after the funerals,” said Bratton, who also acknowledged that the mayor has “lost the trust of some officers.”
It was unclear whether the efforts to promote peace will succeed, even as New Yorkers busily prepared for the Christmas holidays. A coalition of protest groups released a statement blasting both Bratton and the police union, accusing them of trying to link the protests to the officers’ shootings as a way of silencing the demonstrations.
