Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday called the ban on police participating in New York City Pride events a “mistake.”

“Look, I fully appreciate the extraordinary history of Pride in this city and I honor what Pride has achieved over the years, I think that decision’s a mistake,” de Blasio said Monday morning during his daily press conference when asked about the new policy.

“First of all, we have to keep people safe, and it’s been an incredibly safe, positive event and we have to be mindful of continuing that.

“Second of all … I believe in inclusion,” he added. “And we’re talking about one of the issues is officers who are members of the LGBT community, wanting to march and express their pride and their solidarity with the community and their desire to keep changing the NYPD and changing the city.”

The organizers of the world’s largest gay pride event, NYC Pride, announced Saturday that police and corrections officer exhibitors will not be allowed to participate for at least the next five years, and the event would hire private security to reduce NYPD presence during the march.

NYC Pride co-chair André Thomas said the decision “follows many months of conversation and discussion with key stakeholders in the community.”

“The sense of safety that law enforcement is meant to provide can instead be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force and/or without reason,” the group said in a release.

 NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information John Miller called the shift “hurtful.”