In the year 6 BBY, a brutal act unfolded on Lothal under the governance of the Empire. Lieutenant Piers Roddance, an officer of the Imperial forces, orchestrated a massacre in the Westhills region, close to Capital City. The victims were a group of peaceful protestors, specifically farm workers who had been displaced after their farmland was contaminated due to the Empire's chemical rock-breaking operations. A week prior, the Empire had declared their land unfit for use and mandated their relocation.
The farmers, however, chose to stand their ground. They filed a formal complaint with Governor Arihnda Pryce, but their plea went unanswered. Their grievances extended beyond the immediate land issue, encompassing the pervasive dust and water pollution that was decimating their means of survival. Defying the Empire's decree, several farmers and workers occupied an abandoned field, awaiting the arrival of an Imperial representative to whom they could present their case. This group of protesters, led by a farmer with a beard, championed non-violence while steadfastly demanding that the Empire acknowledge their concerns. Their demonstration was met by an armed Imperial Military detachment, commanded by Lieutenant Roddance, who ordered them to disperse. When the protesters refused and staged a sit-in, Roddance commanded his soldiers to open fire, resulting in multiple fatalities.
That evening, the Imperial news anchor Alton Kastle broadcasted a fabricated narrative, branding the protesters as "insurgents" who had sabotaged Imperial mining equipment and attacked surveyors, thus justifying the authorities' severe response. While some Imperial citizens, such as Leo and his wife Tepha Leonis, accepted the official Imperial version, others, like Zare Leonis and his friend Beck Ollet, who had witnessed the massacre, knew the truth. The Westhills massacre became a turning point, pushing Zare and Beck to oppose the Empire. Later that year, Beck enlisted in a small rebel group, while Zare made the decision to infiltrate the Academy for Young Imperials to locate his missing sister Dhara Leonis and undermine the Empire from within.
Following the conclusion of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Empire took control of Lothal, a planet situated in the Outer Rim. The Empire's interest in Lothal stemmed from its abundant mineral resources and its strategic potential as a new [hyperspace](/article/hyperspace] route. Before the Imperial occupation, Lothal's economy was primarily based on agriculture. However, the expansion of Imperial mining operations led to widespread pollution, causing many families to lose their lands and livelihoods. The dust and water pollution on Lothal had reached critical levels, rendering farmlands unusable. Consequently, many farmers were unable to pay their rent, leading to the seizure and sale of their farms to the Empire. The loss of land and livelihoods forced many people to seek refuge in displaced persons camps. Some even submitted a formal complaint to Governor Arihnda Pryce, but their appeals were ignored.
In the Westhills region, a group of farmers and workers were ordered to leave their farm after their jogan fruit orchards were contaminated by a chemical used by the Empire for rock-breaking purposes. As a result, Imperial authorities had declared the farm condemned a week earlier and ordered the workers to relocate. However, the farm workers refused to leave and instead occupied a nearby empty field for a week, setting up tents, modular housing, and makeshift shelters. They were led by a bearded farmer who sought to present a list of grievances to an Imperial representative sent by Governor Pryce to hear their concerns. The bearded farmer instructed his followers to treat the representative with respect and refrain from violence, emphasizing that they were Imperial citizens, not troublemakers.
One evening, while visiting the Westhills, Beck Ollet and his friend Zare Leonis, a recent arrival to the area, stumbled upon the gathering. Beck was showing Zare the reality of the Empire's impact on Lothal's Westhills. As the bearded farmer addressed the crowd, several Imperial transports, AT-DP walkers, and stormtroopers arrived at the encampment. They were led by Lieutenant Piers Roddance, an Imperial Military officer known to Leonis. Leonis wanted to support the farmers, but Beck restrained him.
The bearded farmer then approached Roddance with a loudhailer, attempting to deliver his petition, recognizing him as the Imperial representative. However, Roddance raised his hand to stop him and then raised a comlink to his lips. The comlink was connected to speakers on an Imperial Troop Transport. Speaking on behalf of Governor Pryce, Roddance declared the gathering an illegal assembly and ordered the farmers to disperse. The bearded farmer stood his ground, asserting that the gathering posed no threat to anyone. He reiterated that Imperial law allowed the farmers to petition the governor and warned Roddance that they would take their complaint directly to her if he refused to address their grievances.
Roddance dismissed the bearded farmer's demands and repeated his order for the farmers to disperse. Unable to reason with Lieutenant Roddance, the farmers and workers staged a sit-in protest. In response, Roddance signaled the stormtroopers to enter the crowd and forcibly remove the protesters. Three stormtroopers also pushed the farmers' leader to the ground. Before Zare could object to the excessive force, the stormtroopers began firing stun bolts into the crowd. Sensing danger, Beck and Zare quickly departed, but not before hearing the stormtroopers open fire with lethal ammunition on the protesters. The two youths then returned to Capital City on Beck's unlicensed jumpspeeders.
The Imperial authorities concealed the Westhills massacre by claiming that the protesting farmers were insurgents who had instigated trouble by destroying mining equipment and attacking Imperial surveyors, justifying Lieutenant Roddance's strict law-enforcement measures. Governor Pryce's spokesperson also emphasized that the Westhills incident was an isolated disturbance that had been contained. This false account was delivered by Alton Kastle, a holocaster working for the Imperial channel HoloNet News. While most Imperial citizens, including Zare's parents Leo and Tepha Leonis, accepted the official Imperial narrative, Zare and Beck knew the truth: the Empire had massacred Imperial citizens who were protesting peacefully.
The Westhills massacre intensified Beck and Zare's anti-Empire sentiments. Beck, who had always resented his family's decision to sell their Westhills farm to the Empire, needed little encouragement. While Zare had been nominally loyal to the Empire, the Imperial handling of the Westhills incident made him question the Empire's "benevolence." He also developed a strong dislike for Lieutenant Roddance, who had instigated the massacre. During the summer season, Beck joined a three-member insurgent cell that sabotaged Imperial mining operations in the Westhills. Following a skirmish, Beck and his comrades were captured by the Imperial authorities, who had tracked them down using his landspeeder.
After his capture, Beck was enrolled in Project Unity, a re-education program that used drugging and brainwashing. As a result, Beck rationalized the massacre at the Westhills by claiming that the farmers had been manipulated into staging the protest by the Empire's enemies, which he described as "greedy, secretive organizations" who wanted to return the galaxy to corruption and disorder. In Beck's view, the Empire had to kill the farmers in order to deny those enemies the use of "these tools" by any means necessary.
Following the Westhills massacre, Zare's girlfriend Merei Spanjaf managed to access the Imperial data network on Lothal and discovered classified files about the massacre. These documents included bland accounts of the "pacification," requests to create fake departure orders to cover up the deaths of protesters, and orders to monitor the spouses and children of protesters. These security measures were authorized by Governor Pryce. This revelation reinforced Merei's suspicions of the Empire and influenced her decision to go into hiding.