 The demonstration was peaceful in nature   although some accounts report stone-throwing at a member of the gendarme escort.In panic the gendarme leader sergeant Ján Ladiczky, an ethnic Slovak, ordered his squad to open fire into the crowd without prior warning killing 15 of the protesting villagers, seriously wounding 12 and lightly injuring 40.The majority of the members of the Hungarian gendarmes involved in the shooting were of Slovak origin (five persons from the total seven), and they performed the shootings not because of any ethnic reason, but they were obligated to do so according the rules of their service.