How to Convince A Reporter You’re Not Violent

Does anyone else see how grimly preposterous this is?  

The caption for this photograph on the main page of the New York Times web site was, “An Afghan police officer pointed a gun at journalists.  Unnerved by another wave of attacks, the government banned the reporting of violence during Thursday’s vote.”[Note 1, emphasis mine.]

image credit, Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

What did the police officer say?  Don’t call me violent or I’ll shoot you?

NOTES

1.  “Election Day Censorship in Afghanistan,” The New York Times, 18 Aug 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/world/asia/19afghan.html?_r=1&hp.