A violent confrontation in Manchester, England, between civilians and government forces. A large but peaceable crowd of some 60,000 people had gathered in St Peter’s Fields to hear the radical politician Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt address them. After he had begun speaking the local magistrates sent in constables to arrest him. In the mistaken belief that the crowd was preventing the arrest, the magistrates ordered a body of cavalry to go to the assistance of the constables. In the ensuing riot 11 civilians were killed and over 500 injured.