Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that the city’s police force should not express their dissatisfaction with Mayor Bill de Blasio by turning their backs on him.
“The mayor is not in any way to be treated with people turning their backs,” Giuliani said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday. “It doesn’t matter if you like the mayor or you don’t like the mayor, you have to respect the mayor’s position. I don’t support that.”
Hundreds of NYPD officers turned their backs in protest of de Blasio at Saturday’s funeral for officer Rafeal Ramos, who was killed in the line of duty last week in the wake of ongoing protests against the city’s police, as the mayor delivered a eulogy for the fallen officer.
While Giuliani opposed that public display, he did say that de Blasio should apologize to the city police for any offense he caused.
“I do believe Mayor de Blasio should apologize to the New York City police department,” he said. “He created an impression with the police — I don’t know that he wanted to do it, he probably didn’t — but he created an impression with the police that he was on the side of the protesters.”