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 It was one of the first counter-rallies by police supporters since
the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man killed when officers
were attempting to arrest him in July. The killing set off a wave of
protests against the treatment of minority groups by police.
On Friday about 100 pro-police demonstrators gathered on a sidewalk
in lower Manhattan, separated from dozens of opposing protesters by
a metal barricade. A contingent of uniformed officers cast a wary
eye over the encounter. There was no violence.
Jim and Kathleen Hall, 52 and 56, joined the rally to show support
for their sons, one of whom is a New York police officer while the
other is attending the Police Academy.
"It's just a matter of respect," Kathleen Hall said. "Every walk of
life there's good and bad."
 Mike Staples, 59, said he thought it was wrong for the police to be
demonized.
""Being cast as all bad is completely incorrect," he said.
"I think it's important for everyone's voice to be heard."
Some protesters, their bodies pressed against the barricades,
engaged in loud arguments with their counterparts.
"Respect the badge, respect the law," shouted a pro-police
demonstrator, eliciting an opposing protester to reply: "It's easy
to say when it's in your favor." Protests proliferated earlier
this month after two separate grand juries declined to indict Daniel
Pantaleo, the officer who put Garner in a chokehold, and Darren
Wilson, an officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson,
Missouri. The protests, which have become less frequent in recent
days, have forced Mayor Bill de Blasio to perform a delicate
balancing act of reassuring the critics of police tactics who helped
elect him last year without antagonizing the officers who work for
him.
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Nevertheless, the mayor's relationship with the city's largest
police union, has become increasingly hostile.Last week, Pat Lynch,
president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, urged police
officers to request that the mayor stay away from their funeral
should they die in the line of duty, saying de Blasio had refused
"to show police officers the support and respect they deserve". De
Blasio called the move "just plain divisive and unacceptable," and
has repeatedly said in recent weeks that he will not tolerate
attacks on police officers. Although the protests in Ferguson and
on the West Coast have been marked by frequent outbursts of violence
and property damage, the protests in New York City have generally
been more restrained, although police say that two officers were
assaulted by protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. Police
have arrested two suspects and are looking for four others, although
they said they had a "person of interest" in custody on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Writing By Frank McGurty;
editing by Andrew Hay)
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