page_title: Bava Beccaris massacre
section_title: The riots
hierarchical_section_title: Bava Beccaris massacre / The riots
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris (Fossano, 17 March 1831 - Rome, 8 April 1924), Italian general. Italiano: Ritratto di Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris (Fossano, 17 marzo 1831 - Roma, 8 aprile 1924), generale italiano.
context_page_description: The Bava Beccaris massacre, named after the Italian General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris, was the repression of widespread food riots in Milan, Italy, on 6–10 May 1898. In Italy the suppression of these demonstrations is also known as Fatti di Maggio or I moti di Milano del 1898. At least 80 demonstrators were killed, as well as two soldiers, and 450 wounded, according to government sources.
  The overreaction of the military led to the demise of Antonio Di Rudinì and his government in July 1898 and created a constitutional crisis, strengthening the opposition. The events of May marked a height of popular discontent with government, the military and the monarchy.
context_section_description: On 5 May 1898 workers organized a strike against the rise of food prices. The first blood was shed that day at Pavia, when the son of Giuseppe Mussi, a deputy from Milan, was killed by the police in an attempt to control the crowd. The next day, 6 May, workers of the Pirelli factory went on strike in the morning and leaflets denouncing the events of the previous day were distributed. Riots broke out and two were shot and killed. Riots also broke out in Florence and Livorno.
  Di Rudinì's government declared a state of siege in Lombardy and the city. General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris, a veteran of the wars of independence that had unified Italy was ordered to Milan. Infantry, cavalry and artillery were brought into the city, as well as railway troops because railway workers had gone on strike as well. The troops were mainly conscripts from rural and alpine areas, considered to be more reliable in a time of civil unrest than those from urban districts. With reserves, Bava Beccaris had 45,000 men at his disposal.
  On 7 May, 60,000 people went on strike, moving from the working-class neighbourhoods in the outskirts of the city towards the city centre 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. On 9 May 1898 the troops used artillery to breach the walls of a monastery outside Porta Monforte, but they found inside only a group of beggars who were there to receive assistance from the friars. According to the government, 80 demonstrators and other civilians were killed, as well as two soldiers. A total of 450 persons were wounded. The opposition claimed 400 dead and more than 2,000 injured people. According to The New York Times 300 people were killed and 1,000 wounded.
caption: General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris
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