The Jews appealed to the governor of Chernigov to revoke or at least to mitigate the new regulation.

The governor's decision fell in favor of the Jews who were allowed to keep their stores open on Christian holidays from noon-time until six o'clock in the evening.

The reply of the local Jew-baiters took the form of a pogrom.
On Sunday, the day before Yom Kippur, when the Jews opened their stores for a few hours, a hired crowd of ruffians from among the local street mob fell upon the Jewish stores and began to destroy and loot whatever goods it could lay its hands on.

The stores having been rapidly closed, the rioters invaded the residences of the Jews, destroying the property contained there and filling the streets with fragments of broken furniture and leathers from torn bedding.

The plunderers were assisted by the peasants who had arrived from the adjacent villages.