During WWII Palermo was stuck between Italian and German troops pestering the streets, while British and American planes bombed its centre from the sky. Like many other islands, Sicily was used as granary to grow crops and feed the troops. By 1944 there was no food left in the city.
The people of Palermo, tired and desperate after years of war, took the streets asking for food, parading through Via Maqueda, one of the main roads of the city centre. Once the crowd reached Palazzo Comitini, the Italian army decided to address the issue. They started to shoot randomly using shotguns and throwing hand grenades on the defenceless crowd. 158 were wounded, 24 killed. The youngest victim was only 9 years old. This was the first massacre of modern day Italy.
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