Bava-Beccaris massacre

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The Bava Beccaris massacre, named after the Italian General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris, refers to the cruel repression of riots in Milan in 1898.

On May 5, 1898, workers organized a strike to demonstrate against the government of Antonio Starrabba di Rudinì, holding it responsible for the general increase of prices and for the famine that was affecting the country. The first blood was shed that day at Pavia, when the son of the mayor of Milan was killed while attempting to halt the troops marching against the crowd.

After a protest in Milan the following day, Antonio di Rudinì's government declared the state of siege in the city. Bava-Beccaris ordered his troops to shoot cannons and bombs at zero elevation. Demonstrators, or alleged ones [1], were pursued by the soldiers who opened up fire on the masses. On May 9, 1898, the troops bombed a convent, but they found in it only a group of beggars who had come to receive assistance from the friars. According to the government, there were 118 dead and 450 wounded [2]. The opposition claimed 400 dead and more than 2,000 injured people. Filippo Turati, one of the founder of the Italian Socialist Party in 1892, was arrested in 1898, accused of being the inspirator of the popular riots.

King Umberto I praised the General and awarded him the medal of Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine Militare dei Savoia , saying that "You have rendered a great service to the King and to the Country". The decoration exacerbated the Italian population's indignation. On the other hand, Antonio di Rudinì was forced to resign in July 1898.

On 29 July, 1900, at Monza, Umberto I was assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci who officially claimed he had come directly from America to avenge the victims of the repression, and the offense given by the decoration awarded to General Bava Beccaris. This assassination took place in a context of theorization of "propaganda of the deed" in part of the anarchist movement.