British Troops Fire on a Crowd in Amritsar

On the afternoon of 13 April 1919, thousands of people gathered in Amritsar inside the Jallianwala Bagh, an open walled enclosure near the Golden Temple. Many had arrived to observe the annual Baisakhi fair, while others attended a planned public assembly protesting the Rowlatt Act and the recent arrests of two regional nationalist figures, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal. Tensions across Punjab had reached a crisis point over previous days, marked by strikes, telegraph line sabotage, and fatal clashes between demonstrators and troops. Although the local commander, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, had circulated a ban on public meetings earlier that morning, the proclamation had not been widely disseminated among pilgrims and traders entering the city.

Enclosed on most sides by existing buildings with only a few narrow gateways, the compound offered virtually no avenues of escape. Accompanied by about ninety troops, mostly Gurkha and other Indian soldiers, of whom about fifty carried rifles, Dyer arrived at the site shortly after the meeting commenced. Armoured vehicles brought along were unable to navigate the narrow passage. Without issuing an order for the assembly to disperse, Dyer posted his soldiers across the primary exit and ordered them to open fire directly into the dense crowds, directing ammunition toward the bottlenecks where people attempted to flee.