May 21, 1980 (Wednesday, clear)
- 0:35: Battles unfold between a crowd of 20,000 and martial law forces in the direction of the Labor Ministry Office
- 2:18: Phone connections to Gwangju severed.
- 4:00: Citizens place the bodies of the two killed at Gwangju Station Square in bicycle carts and go to Geumnam-no.
- 4:30: Gwangju KBS building set ablaze.
- 8:00: Demonstrators clash with forces of the 20 Infantry Division at the entrance of Gwangju Industrial Park.
- 10:15: Paratroopers issued live ammunition sent up front.
- 10:19: Gwangju Tax Office gutted by fire.
- 11:00 Some 300,000 citizens of Gwangju gather on Geumnam-ro.
- 11:10: Large helicopters arrive at Provincial Hall Square.
- 12:00: Citizens of Gwangju, indignant with the broken promise of the Martial Law Command to withdraw, advance in cars toward Provincial Hall.
- 12:59: One armored vehicle secretly makes its way from Asia Motors factory to Provincial Hall Square.
- 13:00: As the national anthem is pumped out of speakers from the Provincial Hall, paratroopers begin opening fire.
- 13:20: Young people continue to fall along Geumnam-no as paratroopers concentrate fire on them.
- 14:15: South Jeolla Provincial governor broadcasts appeals for demonstrators to disperse from a police helicopter.
- 14:35: Citizens acquire tens of army-use trucks and armored vehicles at Asia Motors factory.
- 14:40: Citizens acquire TNT from armory in Jiwon-dong.
- 15:48: Paratroopers take aimed shots at demonstrators from the roofs of major buildings.
- 16:00: Demonstrators who acquired weapons in Hwasun and Naju engage in street-to-street fighting in front of the Provincial Hall.
- 16:43: Students place two light machine guns on the roof of Jeonnam National University Hospital.
- 17:30: Paratroopers withdraw from Provincial Hall to Chosun University.
