Westhills massacre

In 6 BBY, Imperial forces on Lothal under the command of Lieutenant Piers Roddance massacred a gathering of peaceful demonstrators in the Westhills near Capital City. These demonstrators were displaced farm workers whose land and crops had been polluted by a chemical used for breaking up rock. The Empire had condemned their farm a week before and ordered the workers to move.

However, the workers had refused to move and lodged a complaint with Governor Arihnda Pryce but had received no response. These workers also had other grievances including the extensive dust and water pollution that was destroying their livelihoods. Several farmers and workers illegally occupied an abandoned field and awaited for the arrival of an Imperial representative to hear their petition. These protesters were led by a bearded farmer, who insisted on non-violence but wanted the Empire to hear their grievances. The protesters were visited by an armed Imperial Military contingent led by Lieutenant Roddance who demanded that they disperse. When the protesters staged a sit-in, Roddance ordered his troops to open fire and forcibly disperse the protesters. As a result, several of them were killed.

That evening, the Imperial broadcaster Alton Kastle falsely reported that the protesters were "insurgents" who had destroyed Imperial mining equipment and surveyors; provoking a harsh response by the authorities. While several Imperial citizens like Leo and his wife Tepha Leonis believed the official Imperial account, others like Zare Leonis and his friend Beck Ollet, who had witnessed the incident, knew the truth. The Westhills massacre had the effect of turning Zare and Beck against the Empire. Later that year, Beck joined a three-member rebel cell while Zare decided to infiltrate the Academy for Young Imperials in order to find his missing sister Dhara Leonis and to work against the Empire from within.

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