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Veteran civil rights leader Al Sharpton, who has tried to play the statesman during heated protests over police shootings, now faces accusations of incitement after the killings last weekend of two officers in New York City.

The Rev. Sharpton has worked over the years to shed his reputation as a firebrand, and in recent months, he had provoked the ire of younger protesters who favor a more confrontational approach. Sharpton, for instance, angered some young activists by rebuffing them when they unexpectedly asked to speak at a march his nonprofit group organized in Washington.

But after the deaths of the two officers, momentum has shifted away from the protesters, at least temporarily, and now some of the most intense pressure is coming from those who say police have been unfairly vilified.

Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) and former New York governor George Pataki have blamed Sharpton for using rhetoric that they said fostered an anti-police environment. Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik said Sharpton and others had blood on their hands. Conservative commentators posted pictures on Twitter of Sharpton with President Obama to paint the president as a radical on issues of race.

The 60-year-old Obama adviser and MSNBC talk-show host has endured sharp criticism from both flanks, from conservatives who have long seen him as a race-baiting radical to protesters who accuse him of using their movement for self-promotion.

Several hundred people marched in New York City to protest police brutality despite public officials' calls for a break in protests until after two slain officers are buried. (AP)

A less experienced civil rights figure might find these waters perilous, but Sharptons legitimacy goes deeper than the currents of public opinion. He has been working on issues of police brutality for three decades, and he is the first call many African American families make when they feel that a loved one was unjustly killed by police.

All of the critics, those people have to ask themselves: Why, if Sharpton is so bad, are the families standing there with him? he said in an interview last week.

In the wake of the police officers deaths, Sharpton has presented himself as a peacemaker, condemning the killings while defending the rights of protesters to continue to decry what they perceive as racist police tactics.

All the while, he has touted his high-profile role. He even concluded a recent news conference by denouncing death threats directed at him playing one such voice mail for the microphones. The language is: Hey, n-word, stop killing innocent people. Im going to get you, he said. I have several like this.

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Sharpton faces criticism after NYC officers deaths