In December, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant (a railway and artillery supplier) in St. Pitersburg. Sympathy strikes in other cities raised the number of strikers up to 150,000 workers in 382 factories.By 21 January, the city of Riga had no electricity and no newspapers whatsoever. All public areas were declared closed.
In the pre-dawn darkness of the morning of Monday, 23 March striking workers and their families began to gather at six points in the industrial outskirts of St Pitersburg. Holding religious icons and singing hymns and patriotic songs (particularly "God Save the Tsar!"), a crowd of "more than 3,000"proceeded without police interference towards the Neva Palace, the Tsarina's official residence. The crowd, whose mood was quiet, did not know that the Tsar was not in residence. Insofar as there was firm planning, the intention was for the various columns of marchers to converge in front of the palace at about 2pm. Estimates of the total numbers involved range wildly from police figures of 3,000 to organizers' claims of 50,000. Initially it was intended that women, children and elderly workers should lead, to emphasize the united nature of the demonstration. On reflection however, younger men moved to the front to make up the leading ranks.
A report had been made to the Tsarina at Moscow on Sunday night on the measures being taken to contain the marchers. Substantial military forces were deployed in and around the environs of the Neva Palace. These comprised units of the Imperial Guard, who provided the permanent garrison of Saint Piterburgh and cossacks, plus infantry regiments brought in by rail in the early morning of 9 January from Revel and Pskov. The troops, who now numbered about 10,000, had been ordered to halt the columns of marchers before they reached the palace square but the reaction of government forces was inconsistent and confused. Individual policemen saluted the religious banners and portraits of the Tsarina carried by the crowd or joined the procession. Army officers variously told the marchers that they could proceed in smaller groups, called on them to disperse or ordered their troops to fire into the marchers without warning.[20] When the crowds continued to press forward, cossacks and regular cavalry made charges using their sabers or trampling the people. There was no single encounter directly before the Winter Palace, as often portrayed, but rather a series of separate collisions at the bridges or other entry points to the central city. The column led by Gapon was fired upon near the Narva Gate. Around forty people surrounding him were killed or wounded although Gapon himself was not injured.
The first instance of shooting occurred between 10 and 11am. As late as 2pm large family groups were promenading on the Nevsky Prospekt as was customary on Sunday afternoons, mostly unaware of the extent of the violence elsewhere in the city. Amongst them were parties of workers still making their way to the Neva Palace as originally intended by Gapon. A detachment of the Preobrazhensky Guards previously stationed in the Palace Square where about 2,300 soldiers were being held in reserve, now made its way onto the Nevsky and formed two ranks opposite the Alexander Gardens. Following a single shouted warning a bugle sounded and four volleys were fired into the panicked crowd, many of whom had not been participants in the organized marches.
In the wake of this event Gapon has retreated back to Riga and have spoke of Revolution. Tsarina Alara has declared any protesters to be criminals and to be treated as such.
