A Century After a Massacre in India During British Colonial Rule, the U.K. Faces Demands for an Apology
Standing right next to a bullet-ridden red brick wall in the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in the north Indian city of Amritsar is a signboard with a caption that reads: “The wall has its own historical significance as it has 36 bullets marks which can be easily seen.”
Those 36 bullets were among the 1,650 fired by British troops into an unarmed crowd, without warning, on April 13, 1919. The events of that day would come to be known as the Amritsar or Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The massacre came amid years of conflict between Britain and India, which was then held under colonial rule. During the First World War, Indian troops and resources had been widely utilized by the British, who promised that India’s sacrifices would lead to greater self-rule. But when the war ended in 1918, that pledge did not turn into real change. In fact, in early 1919 the British passed legislation, the Rowlatt Act, that enabled them to incarcerate anyone suspected of plotting the overthrow of British control —..