The Huế Phật Đản shootings refer to the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on 8 May 1963, in the city of Huế, South Vietnam, at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm. The army and police fired guns and launched grenades into a crowd of Buddhists who had been protesting against a government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on the day of Phật Đản, which commemorates the birth of Gautama Buddha. Diệm's denial of governmental responsibility for the incident – he instead blamed the Việt Cộng — added to discontent among the Buddhist majority.