Despite the refusal of a permit, a crowd estimated at 15,000 turned up in Market Square. Police and Specials attacked crowds in Albert Street under the direction of Cahill, who shouted, "Give it to them, lads! Into them." Meanwhile, Emma Miller, a pioneer trade unionist and suffragist, led a group of women and girls to parliament house and, while returning along Queen Street, were batoned and arrested by a large contingent of foot and mounted police. Emma Miller, a frail woman in her 70s barely weighing 35 kilograms, stood her ground, pulled out her hat pin and stabbed the rump of the Police Commissioner's horse. The horse reared and threw off the Police Commissioner, giving him an injury resulting in a limp for the rest of his life. There is some debate that Miller's hatpin stabbed Cahill in the leg.