Although Ngô Đình Diệm personally was respected for his nationalism, political stability and policies triggering rapid economic growth, he ran a nepotistic and authoritarian government. Elections were routinely rigged and Diệm favored of minority Roman Catholics on many issues, believing that Catholics were "more trustworthy", more anti-communist and more impermeable to Viet Cong infiltration. His religious policies sparked protests from the Buddhist community after demonstrators were killed on Vesak, Buddha's birthday, in 1963 when they were protesting a ban on the Buddhist flag. This incident sparked mass protests calling for religious equality. The most famous case was of Venerable Thích Quảng Đức, who burned himself to death to protest. The images of this event made worldwide headlines and brought extreme embarrassment for Diệm. The tension was not resolved, and on August 21, the ARVN Special Forces loyal to his brother and chief adviser Ngô Đình Nhu and commanded by Lê Quang Tung raided Buddhist pagodas across the country, leaving a death toll estimated to range into the hundreds. In the United States, the Kennedy administration became worried that the problems of Diệm's government were undermining the US's anti-Communist effort in Southeast Asia, and of Diệm's increasing resistance and non-cooperation with the American government. On November 1, 1963, with the planning and backing of the CIA and the Kennedy administration, South Vietnamese generals led by Dương Văn Minh engineered a coup d'état and overthrew Ngô Đình Diệm, killing both him and his brother Nhu. ("see also Ngô Đình Cẩn")