The return of Giolitti to Rome made nationalists and pro-war advocates fear that he would once again become Prime Minister and keep Italy out of the war. This led to the publication of many hostile stories in the press, asserting that Italian pride and honour demanded war. In a speech on 12 May,
Gabriele D’Annunzio incited violence, saying that those who refused to take up arms were traitors, and urging the Romans to throw all the filth into the sewers. The following day, the neutralist deputy and former minister
Pietro Bertolini was assaulted by an angry mob in the
Piazza Colonna while riding on a tram. Other deputies,
Luigi Facta,
Antonio Graziadei, and were also threatened and jeered at. In a number of cities there were violent demonstrations and a number of newspaper offices were sacked. In
Bologna, the socialist deputy was chased and beaten. On 14 May, when news of Salandra’s resignation became public, a crowd of young people besieged the
Palazzo Montecitorio where the
Italian Chamber of Deputies was sitting, and attempted to set fire to its doors. They were disgusted with
representative democracy and in favour of an
irridentist war to secure
Trieste and
Trentino. They articulated a belief that unless it declared war, Italy would become an "effeminate" country. Protests spread into government departments on 15 May, when senior officials led their demonstrations of support for Salandra, who seems to have at least tacitly welcomed this unusual breach of civil service norms. ==Impact==