On Palm Sunday, around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, two townsmen, dressed in the forbidden long capes and "chambergos", provocatively crossed the little square of Antón Martín. Several soldiers on guard duty stopped them to challenge the wearing of such garments. Insults were exchanged and the soldiers tried to detain them. One of the townsmen unsheathed a sword and whistled. A band of townspeople appeared and the soldiers fled. The rioters quickly took over Plaza de los Inválidos where muskets and sabers were stored. 2,000 rioters marched on the Calle Atocha to the Plaza Mayor, shouting insults against Esquilache. They encountered Luis Antonio Fernández de Córdoba y Spínola, the 11th Duke of Medinaceli, whom they surrounded and persuaded to present petitions to the king.