New York City’s police commissioner called for a “lot less rhetoric and a lot more dialogue” to defuse the tension between officers and the population they protect.

Hundreds of officers outside the church where a funeral was being held for a policeman killed along with his partner in an ambush shooting turned their backs on New York’s mayor as he spoke during the service.

Protesters who have rallied for weeks over excessive use of police force rejected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plea to suspend demonstrations after the killing of two officers.

As the New York Police Department mourns two of its own, Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for a pause in protests amid a widening rift with those in a grieving force who accuse him of creating a climate of mistrust that contributed to the killings of two officers.

US police departments and union leaders are warning the rank and file to wear bulletproof vests and avoid making inflammatory posts on social media in the days after a man ambushed two officers and shot them to death inside their patrol car.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio called for a temporary halt to protests over police conduct as he faced a widening rift with a force preparing Christmas time burials for two of its own and decrying the demonstrations as a factor in the officers’ cold-blooded executions.

The gunman who murdered two New York City police officers in their squad car had a long criminal record, a hatred of police and the government and an apparent history of mental instability that included a suicide attempt a year ago, it has emerged.

US president Barack Obama has offered full support and federal assistance to the New York Police Department after two of its officers were shot dead.

New York City’s police commissioner says the gunman who ambushed and killed two officers had made online posts that were “very anti-police”.

He may be president now, but Barack Obama says he’s a black man mistaken for a valet and a waiter.

"Come on sing it out"

Thousands of protesters have marched across the US to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and urge lawmakers to take action.

More than 10,000 protesters converged on the US capital today to help draw attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and call for legislative action.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have rubbed shoulders with Brooklyn royalty when they met Jay Z and Beyonce at a New York basketball match.

Protests across the United States against police killings of unarmed black men have continued, with calls for nationwide dialogue and a “die in” in one city.

A fifth day of nationwide protests against police violence was set to begin yesterday after overnight clashes in two West Coast cities as New York’s police commissioner said an internal investigation into a chokehold death could last four months.

A protest over a US grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man has turned violent in California, authorities said.

Protesters rallied across America for a third day over a New York grand jury’s decision not to charge a white police officer over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.

United Nations human rights experts have called for a halt to racial profiling by US law enforcement officers and a review of laws allowing police to use lethal force.

Civil rights leaders have condemned the decision not to charge a white New York City police officer over the chokehold death of a black man and are planning a march and a summit on racial justice in Washington.

The mobile phone video of the last moments of Eric Garner’s life showed a white police officer holding the unarmed black man in a chokehold as he repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe.”

Protests have erupted across New York and in US cities from Georgia to California after a white police officer was cleared over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.

Protests have broken out in New York City after a white police officer was cleared of blame over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man stopped on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes.

Thousands of people rallied in cities across the US including Los Angeles and New York to passionately but peacefully protest over a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer who killed a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri.