(USA Today) As thousands of law enforcement officers and civilians alike gathered Saturday to pay their final respects to one of two New York officers gunned down as they sat in their patrol car, scores of people joined in solidarity at pro-police rallies across the country.
The rallies were planned to show support for police in the wake of several high-profile police shootings of unarmed civilians, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York, and the Dec. 20 killings of New York officers Rafael Ramos and Wejian Liu.
Ramos' funeral coincided with the planned rallies, many of which were started through social media using the Twitter hashtag #BlueLivesMatter. Funeral services were also held Saturday for a police officer killed in the line of duty Dec. 21 in Tarpon Springs, Fla.
Advertisement - story continues below
Similar events were held or planned in cities such as Atlantic City, Houston and Cleveland on Saturday.
