The Merchants' Guild Crisis was an armed insurrection in 3643 BBY by members of the Migrant Merchants' Guild on Coruscant, the capital planet of the Galactic Republic. The Merchants' Guild had taken over most of the Old Galactic Market sector in the aftermath of the Sacking of Coruscant. Skirmishes between police officers of the Coruscant Security Force and members of the Guild were common as the police tried to maintain law and order. In 3643 BBY, Coruscant Security Forces under the command of Security Chief Captain Winborn were sent by Coruscant Senator Vanara Kayl in a bid to push them out of the Galactic Market. In the process, Coruscant Security discovered a plot to destroy the skylane infrastructure surrounding the Senate Building by hacking into secure network access nodes that controlled the traffic flow. The result would have been thousands of deaths in the Senate District. Senator Kayl asked a traveling Republic hero for assistance in putting down the insurrection. The individual was able to assist Captain Winborn and his men by killing the Guild thugs and repairing the Secure Network Access Nodes. However, the individual also discovered a recording of Senator Kayl arguing with a leader of the Migrant Guild. It revealed that the Senator had taken money for her election campaign from the Guild and that when the Guild had attempted to blackmail her, she had ordered the Coruscant Security crackdown, setting off the insurrection.
On paper, the Migrant Merchants' Guild was a legitimate trade consortium that advocated for refugee rights and supported the Coruscant reconstruction effort. In reality, the Migrant Merchants' Guild was a highly organized crime syndicate that seized power during the riots at the old Galactic Market after the war. Even before the war's end, the guild served as a front for money laundering and goods smuggling, but kept mostly to nonviolent crime. Its membership was primarily nonhuman, and represented a powerful economic force inside Coruscant's nonhuman immigrant population. When riots broke out, the guild saw an opportunity to claim real power; after security forces withdrew, it was the guild that re-established "order" with its armed goons and provided food and supplies… at a price. Since then, the Migrant Merchants' Guild expanded into bribery and extortion, with the old Galactic Market at the heart of its territory, all the while keeping a thin veneer of respectability. Republic security patrols often clashed with members of the Migrant Merchants' Guild in an attempt to keep the peace, but the guild began moving its influence from shaking down local businesses to Coruscant politics.
The insurrection was a fight in 3643 BBY between police officers of the Coruscant Security Force under the command of Security Chief Captain Winborn and members of the Migrant Merchants' Guild. The Merchants' Guild had taken over most of the Old Galactic Market in the aftermath of the Sacking of Coruscant. Coruscant Security was sent by Coruscant Senator Vanara Kayl in a bid to push them out. In the process, Coruscant Security, with the assistance of another individual, was able to prevent a terrorist attack on the secure skylane infrastructure around the Senate Building.
After the fight, it was discovered that Senator Kayl was being blackmailed by the Merchants' Guild over influence she bought during her election. Though she had been a symbol of rebuilding Coruscant, a recording showed her arguing with a Guild member and telling him she would send her forces to push them out, destroying her credibility of honesty.
The skirmish appears in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The character can assist the CSF and Winborn in stopping the attack and fighting the Merchants' Guild after speaking with Senator Vanara Kayl.