In front of the headquarters building.
Large numbers of heavily equipped Federal Elite Military Police formed rows of human barricades, preventing the protesters from rushing into the building.
There were also many riot-control vehicles pressurizing the water walls mounted on their roofs so they could spray them in the event of a loss of control.
One day earlier, every Federation citizen, civilian, and soldier with a phone, television, or computer had watched William's two interrogation broadcasts.
Afterward, Serena spread various documents detailing the Federation's dark history across the internet, along with videos of the Astartes crushing the Arachnid Swarm.
In just one day, the Federation's deliberate act of allowing a meteorite to fall on Buenos Aires had become known to everyone.
This was especially true in the film version of the Starship Troopers world, where humanity seemed to place extreme trust in information spread by the media—and the Federation government used this to control humanity.
Yet the method the Federation used to control humanity had been borrowed by William and turned back against it, plunging the Federation into an unprecedented crisis.
Among the tens of thousands of protesters, there were also quite a few active-duty Federal infantrymen.
After declaring war on the Arachnid Swarm, the mobile forces had suffered the heaviest losses. After all, the Federation's upper echelons considered them cannon fodder.
Their unequal treatment, combined with their deepening grudges against the fleet, had now been completely inflamed by William's instigation.
Geneva, as the Federation's capital, was relatively fortunate. In Africa and the Americas—especially among the mobile forces in South America—troops had already begun using live ammunition to protest the injustice.
People often said that the last straw broke the camel's back. William's actions had been that straw, but it was the Federation itself that had truly crushed the Federation.