Amid the outcry, Noriega unleashed his Dignity Battalions to suppress demonstrations. In an image caught on video and played out in news sources around the world, they attacked Billy Ford's car. Ford's bodyguards were shot and killed. Billy Ford attempted to flee as one member of the Dignity Battalions pummeled him repeatedly with a metal pipe. The image of Ford running to safety with his guayabera coated in blood, displayed on the front cover of the May 22, 1989 TIME magazine, brought worldwide attention to Noriega's regime.