On 5 October, crowds of women assembled outside the Hôtel de Ville, agitating against high food prices and shortages. These protests quickly turned political, and after seizing weapons stored at the Hôtel de Ville, some 7,000 of them marched on Versailles, where they entered the Assembly to present their demands. They were followed to Versailles by 15,000 members of the National Guard under Lafayette, who was virtually "a prisoner of his own troops".
On 5 October crowds of women assembled outside the Hôtel de Ville agitating against high food prices and shortages. These protests quickly turned political, and after seizing weapons stored at the Hôtel de Ville some 7,000 of them marched on Versailles, where they entered the Assembly to present their demands They were followed to Versailles by 15,000 members of the National Guard under Lafayette, who was virtually "a prisoner of his own troops".