Bava Beccaris massacre in 1898 - Milan, Italy - Infamous Crime Scenes on Waymarking.com

"In 1897, the wheat harvest in Italy was substantially lower than the years before; it fell from on average 3.5 million tonnes in 1891–95 to 2.4 million tonnes that year. Moreover, the importation of American grain was more expensive due to the Spanish–American War in 1898. Wheat prices in Milan increased from 225 lire a tonne to 330 lire a tonne in April 1898.

On 7 May, 60,000 people went on strike, moving from the working-class neighbourhoods in the outskirts of the city towards the city center of Milan. Bava Beccaris deployed his forces in the Piazza del Duomo, Milan's central square, determined to stop the strikers and force them back to the city outskirts and regain control over the central railway station. The troops met with fierce resistance while trying to remove the barricades that had been erected, and were bombarded with stones and tiles from the rooftops. Some of the demonstrators had acquired rifles from the workshops of arms manufacturers.

General Bava Beccaris ordered his troops to fire on demonstrators and used the artillery as well. The streets were cleared and on 9 May 1898 the troops used their artillery to breach the walls of a monastery outside Porta Monforte, but instead of protestors they found a group of beggars who were there to receive alms from the friars. According to the Italian government, a total of 80 demonstrators and other civilians were killed, as well as two soldiers. While 450 persons were wounded. The opposition in Italy claimed 400 civilian deaths and more than 2,000 wounded, while The New York Times reported 300 people killed and 1,000 wounded."
Source: (visit link)

Date of crime: 05/07/1898 Public access allowed: yes Fee required: no Web site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for waymarks in this category, you must have personally visited the waymark location. When logging your visit, please provide a note describing your visit experience, along with any additional information about the waymark or the surrounding area that you think others may find interesting.

We especially encourage you to include any pictures that you took during your visit to the waymark.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.