General Dyer personally led the troops to the sight and ordered his men to open fire without any warning. It resulted in the death of 379 and injured more than 1200. India was outraged by Dyer's massacre. Gandhiji, called for a nation wide strike and started the Non-cooperation Movement, which became an important mile stone in the struggle for India's Independence. Today this ground has been changed to a park and it has a pleasant garden. .

There is a narrow path between the houses which leads to the lawn of the park. At the entrance there is a memorial plaque which recounts the history. There is a well on the north side in which many people who tried to escape from the bullets were drowned, and remnants of walls have been preserved to show the bullet holes. At the east end of the garden there is a large memorial built in memory of those who died here.

Eyewitness account of the merciless massacre beggar description. As the machine guns started raining bullets, the dead piled on the dead and wounded upon the wounded. There being no exit, there was a general stampede; women and children being crushed under the heels of those who trying to escape firing. The wailing of women and crying of children were drowned in the fearful blast of the guns spewing fire. General Dyer's loyal soldier released their triggers only when they had exhausted their ammunition. And then leaving the dead and the wounded where they were, Dyer left the ghastly scene along with his troops. Far from attending to the wounded, there was none to offer even water to the dying. According to the official version, 379 people were killed on the spot and thrice as many wounded to die later. The unofficial number of the dead runs into four figures