New York City’s police union is calling for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino’s movies following the director’s remarks at a rally protesting police brutality on Saturday, the New York Post reports. The rally took place days after a police officer was shot and killed while chasing a theft suspect who has been charged with murder and robbery.

Speakers at the protest said they want to bring justice for people killed by police. TV station WPIX reported Tarantino flew in from California to march alongside academic Cornel West at the #RiseUpOctober event.

“I’m a human being with a conscience,” said Tarantino, according to an AP report on NYTimes.com. “And if you believe there’s murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I’m here to say I’m on the side of the murdered.”

Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said in a statement Sunday, “It’s no surprise that someone who makes a living glorifying crime and violence is a cop-hater, too. The police officers that Quentin Tarantino calls ‘murderers’ aren’t living in one of his depraved big-screen fantasies — they’re risking and sometimes sacrificing their lives to protect communities from real crime and mayhem.”

“New Yorkers need to send a message to this purveyor of degeneracy that he has no business coming to our city to peddle his slanderous ‘Cop Fiction.’ It’s time for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino’s films,” Lynch said.

Regarding the rally, Tarantino acknowledged that “It’s unfortunate timing, but we’ve flown in all these families to go and tell their stories … That cop that was killed, that’s a tragedy too.”