At that moment, the journalist from the small news agency, accompanied by an assistant with a simple camera, arrived at the scene.
They didn't dare get too close, so they started filming from a farther dirt hill.
Davis, with keen eyes, noticed the camera's reflection.
He jumped up like a cat with its tail stepped on.
"There are journalists! Damn it, drive them away! Remove those people too!" Davis ordered the soldiers around him.
More than twenty fully armed soldiers, with rifles mounted with bayonets, rushed out of the barracks, splitting into two groups. One group charged the journalists, the other advanced toward the petition crowd.
The soldiers rushing toward the journalists rudely snatched the camera and beat the journalist and the assistant. The camera was smashed to the ground.
The soldiers heading toward the crowd directly used the rifle butts and bayonet sheaths to hit the townsfolk blocking their way.
