Piazza Rossa Massacre

Piazza Rossa Massacre
Date	1-4 106 TT (protests) 5-4 106 TT (massacre)
Location	Padeno, La Rossa
Protests caused by	• government crackdowns on the freedom of print • rising anti-elite sentiment
Goals	• democratization of La Rossa • abolishing the absolute power of the Dux • establishing the conditions necessary for a free press
Parties
Anti-government protesters • Students of the University of Padeno • Reformist writers and intellectuals	Dux Edmondo Giannone di Salino • Rossan Moschettieri Miglio Family • Private security
Casualties
• 34 protesters	• 6 Rossan soldiers

The Piazza Rossa Massacre, also known as the Red Square Massacre, was a violent clash between protesters and the Rossan Moschettieri that occurred in 106 TT on the Padeno city square in front of the Miglio Family palace. Resulting in 34 student casualties and the deaths of 6 soldiers, the massacre's impact and the reaction it provoked is regarded by historians to have been the tipping point for the start of the ensuing Spirit Revolution, a short-lived uprising that saw Rossan radicals take control of the nation's printing presses.

The massacre came as a result of days-long protests held by local students, professors, and various political intellectuals, calling for drastic liberalization in the nation's stance on the freedom of print. With all printing facilities in the hands of the national government, the mass reproduction of texts remained tightly controlled, heavily impeding political, social and scientific progress, topics which began to rise in prominence following the literacy campaigns of the past decades. Similar protests were organized in some form in several of the island's major cities, although the ones in Salino, where the Dux lived and from where he ruled, and Padeno, the island's biggest city, were the most prominent. Following the massacre, wider sentiment against the Six Families called for radical reform which would extend voting rights away from the island's nobility.

Testimonies written by attendants in the years after the massacre indicate that originally limited fighting led to a violent cascade of events. Gianfranco Zanni, believed to be the first victim of the massacre, is told to have gotten into a fight with a soldier, during which the two exchanged blows. A gunshot was fired soon after, and was noticed by soldiers in the front to have been held in a struggle between the two. Another gunshot soon rang, before the crowds turned to chaos, and several more soldiers began firing. Several protesters grappled with the soldiers, resulting in the deaths of six of them. Though the crowd soon dispersed, the town square is told to have been strung with bodies for hours after.

Although the city square upon which the massacre occurred had no official name at the time, it was christened "the Red Square" in the mind of the locals following the tragedy. The name was formalized during the reign of Dux Falcone in part of an effort to build support by shining a light on the island's bloody history.