Courtland Massacre

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The Courtland Massacre

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Rioting in the Centre of Courtland in 2003
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The Origins

A ruinous economic depression in the 1930s led to the widespread civil unrest in the Dominion of Upper Virginia. Strikes and riots, led by students, unemployed workers and intellectuals, led to fears of violent revolution. In 1932, oligarchic civilian government collapsed and General Roger Courtland seized power, declaring a State of Emergency. General Courtland ruthlessly suppressed the uprising and placed the nation under the control of a Provisional Ruling Council (PRC).

By 2003, the PRC had been in power for 71 years. Under military-corporatist rule, individual rights – for all except the corporate and military elite – were severely curtailed and political dissent was considered a crime against the State. In the midst of severe oppression, a new revolutionary group – the Free Virginia Liberation Army (FVLA) – announced its presence in a serious of spectacular terrorist attacks.

The FVLA’s attacks against the PRC and the Upper Virginian military provoked swift retaliation from the government and an increase in oppressive measures. However, it also inspired a sharp increase in acts civil disobedience among the general population.

The Riot

The increasingly repressive hand of the government under PRC Chairman General Craig Altman and the growing unrest of the general public came together disastrously in late 2003. A group of students and workers launched a peaceful demonstration in the centre of Courtland, the capital of Upper Virginia, to protest the government’s policy of reducing general salaries despite higher than ever profits for the nations’ leading corporations.

As the demonstrators neared the Bank of Courtland, riot police, acting on the suspicion that the marchers might try to occupy the bank’s offices, began firing tear gas into the crowd. A general melee erupted as some demonstrators, equipped with homemade gas masks, charged police.

The Massacre

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Rioting Turns into a Massacre
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The local police panicked and called for armed support. The Directorate of Justice, nominally responsible for civilian law enforcement, dispatched a company of its heavily armoured paramilitary police, known as the Criminal Investigative Bureau (CIB). Before the CIB could arrive, regular army troops on duty at the Directorate of Defence (DoD) proceeded to the scene to prevent the rioters from moving toward the DoD’s office complex.

When rioters charged the regular army troops, as they had charged the police, the armoured troops opened fire with heavy weapons. The rioters quickly began to flee. Commanders on the scene, however, ordered their troops to pursue the rioters. What had begun as a demonstration had progressed to riot and on to a full-scale massacre.

By the time CIB forces arrived, regular army troops had killed hundreds of demonstrators. The CIB was forced into a brief fire-fight with the army before the situation was brought under control.

The Aftermath

Once the situation was brought under control, the CIB arrested the army officers in command at the scene. Attorney General Diana Silina immediately announced her intention to prosecute the officers responsible for the massacre. General Altman, however, overruled her and used his own forces to free the officers from Silina’s custody.

Shortly after this incident, Silina began working to alter the balance of power on the PRC, supporting the Chamber of Industrials in its bid to replace Chamber Chairman Baxter Brandt, an Altman loyalist and the third member of the PRC along with Altman and Silina, with his deputy, Forrest Turley. Tensions within the PRC and between Altman and Silina grew until Silina was eventually assassinated by Altman. Altman blamed her death on her own CIB forces and used his claim as an excuse to disband the CIB and to place the entire Directorate of Justice under military control.

Silina’s death marked the end of the PRC. Also, it ultimately led to the 2004 coup by air force officers and the Chamber of Industrials that removed Altman from power and reestablished civilian rule in Upper Virginia.