Battle of Entrepreneur's Avenue
| Battle of Entrepreneur's Avenue | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
| Protestors | Private Military Contractors |
 Vionna-Frankenlisch | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
| Bethany Lightrose (DOW) |
Joe Thompson † Thomas Jones † Leandra Black Samantha Casaan Issac Thrift † |
Edward III (WIA) | ||||||
| Units involved | ||||||||
|
Royal Palace Regiment | ||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||
| Estimated around 60,000 | Estimated around 10,000 corporate employees and 5,000 Contracters |
2,000 troops | ||||||
The Battle of Entrepreneur's Avenue was a case of mass civil violence and is considered by many to be the largest case of corporate warfare in history. A confrontation which started as a large anti-corporate protest turned to violence and the Vionna-Frankenlischian headquarters of Digicorp, Royal Coral, Terrifica Standard Oil and Casaan Industries were stormed by protestors and many corporate employees were killed and injured, as were many protesters. When private military contracters were brought in to act as corporate security and fired upon the rioters, the Imperial Army was called in, led by the King. Martial law was enacted, huge sanctions were placed on the corporations involved and approximately 12 billion Lucans worth of damage was done to central Frankenlisch. The brutal fighting led to the passing of the Civil Violence Act and the use of PMCs led to the passing of the Private Combatants Act.
Background
1992 saw the first occasion of a wartime Vionna-Frankenlischian election; the Baron von Stellenbach's Imperial government was toppled by the charismatic Labour leader, John Hammond in an election on the 20th of February. The election had seen the formation of the Green Coalition, a party of thirteen MPs, mainly from the Labour and Imperial Parties who focused their efforts on environmental issues. Despite only retaining six of their original thirteen seats, the Green Coalition were successful in raising awareness for environmental issues and, in the wake of the Berunti Campaign of the Prodavan Sovereignty Crisis (which succeeded in capturing the Berunti Oilfields), a mass protest was planned. The protest was scheduled for the 1st of March and set to take place at Entrepreneur's Avenue in the City of Frankenlisch. The road in question contained (and still does) many corporate headquarters and branch headquarters.
The main targets of the protest were Digicorp, Royal Coral, Terrifica Standard Oil and Casaan Industries. Digicorp was a major manufacturer of electronic equipment, Royal Coral and Terrifica Standard Oil were oil and gas companies and Casaan Industries was a large multi-industry conglomerate run by the Casaan family of Paritia. All of these companies had previously been the subjects of boycotts and protest campaigns so the planned protest was not entirely unexpected. What was unexpected was the size. Organised by prominent eco-campaigners and couple Lauren and Gerald Flower and suspected eco-terrorist Bethany Lightrose, forty-thousand protesters arrived for the march.
Following the violence, the Appleton Inquiry found that the police and organisers had handled the situation poorly. As attendance was only expected to be ten thousand at most, the area was badly overcrowded and there were not enough marshals or police officers. As such, the corporations offered to deploy their own security forces to keep the protesters in order. Sir Robert Fowler, then Deputy High Commissioner of the Frankenlisch Metropolitan Police, stated: "I knew immediately that the situation would descend into violence the moment that the corporations made their offer of support. I begged Michael (Sir Michael Roberts, then High Commissioner) to turn them down and disperse the protest but he told me that would make things even worse. I bitterly regret not doing more to act while I had the chance..." Sir Michael Roberts accepted the offer and 200 security officers from Digicorp, Royal Coral, Terrifica Standard Oil, Casaan Industries and Edu took up positions on one side of Entrepreneur's Avenue to police the protest.
As night fell on the First of March, instead of dispersing, the protesters encamped for the night on Entrepreneur's Avenue, apparently unsatisfied that their aims had been yet reached. Several thousand left, unable to stay the night for various reasons but at least thirty-two thousand remained. At a meeting held in the Digicorp HQ, the corporation leaders, with the notable exception of Edu's Richard Hoffberg, decided that their joint security teams would strike during the night to disperse the protest.
Initial Violence
Just past midnight on the Second of March, a fire broke out in the camp of the protesters. Four tents burned down and a makeshift shelter, sixteen protesters were injured by the blaze due to the cramped conditions in the encampment. In the immediate wake of the fire, four security officers from Digicorp were discovered attempting to sneak out of the camp, the protesters quickly worked out what had happened. The four officers were mobbed and a later horror story (believed to originate from the internet forum Eddit) claimed that the captured officers were dismembered. There is no evidence to support this and the official line is that they were shot with a .38 pistol carried by one of the protesters.