 American pressmen had been alerted to an upcoming Buddhist demonstration to coincide with Double Seven Day at <unk> Pagoda in the north of Saigon . The group , which included Arnett , Browne , David Halberstam , Neil Sheehan of United Press International , and CBS 's Peter <unk> waited outside the building with their equipment . After an hour @-@ long religious ceremony , the Buddhists filed out of the pagoda into a narrow alley along a side street , where they were blocked and ordered to stop by plain @-@ clothed policemen . The Buddhists did not resist , but Arnett and Browne began taking photos of the confrontation . The police , who were loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu , thereupon punched Arnett in the nose , knocked him to the ground , kicked him with their pointed @-@ toe shoes , and broke his camera . Halberstam , who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Buddhist crisis , was a tall man , standing around 20 centimetres ( 8 in ) taller than the average Vietnamese policeman . He waded into the fracas swinging his arms , reportedly saying " Get back , get back , you sons of bitches , or I 'll beat the shit out of you ! " Nhu 's men ran away without waiting for a Vietnamese translation , but not before Browne had clambered up a power pole and taken photos of Arnett 's bloodied face . The police smashed Browne 's camera , but his photographic film survived the impact . The other journalists were jostled and rocks were thrown at them . Photos of Arnett 's bloodied face were circulated in US newspapers and caused further ill @-@ feeling towards Diệm 's regime , with the images of the burning Thích Quảng Đức on the front pages still fresh in the minds of the public . 
