Beaumont Group Goes Dark

Three months in jail, and still Leon sits imprisoned in spite of his full-spirited cooperation. The heinous crime that warrents such an open-ended captivity? Public intoxication, and participcation in unlicensed gambling. And the Barony still holds him in a cell, while Baudelair himself, blatently guilty of extortion and sex crimes, enjoys house arrest in his Manor. One example out of tragically hundreds of the abuses of power routinely exercised by the State and Church. Over decades the Beaumont Group has pumped millions of livres of gold into public works for the betterment of the city, but the family sees they have only enabled the corruption to fester.
That is why, effective immediately, the Beaumont Group is suspending all charitable contributions, all community outreach, and is repossesing leased and loaned equipment to the Gendarmerie. Additionally, the Beaumont Group will be going dark, halting all operations, in protest of the unlawful and ammoral detention of Leon. All mining operations will stop. All refining and forging operations will stop. All Beaumont-owned businesses will be closed.
The complete list of affected services and businesses is posted below:

• Beaumont Mine
• Disassembly Line
• Beaumont Steelmill
• Croc et Griffe
• Railcenter
• Tubes
• Charcoal Refinery
• Dryad Park
• Steelfont Mine

This results in meat products to become a scarce luxery, for charcoal to become inviable as a fuel, for city streets to be inky dark at night, for the Watch to become incapable to enforcing the law, and for prisoners working their sentances in Steelfont mine to be transferred back to state prisons. Without the watch to oversee the transfers neccessary, dozens will escape during the chaos.
With not-enough to go around and no guards to stop theft, theft becomes the norm. Shops are forced to lock up and hoard what they have for themselves, rather than open up and allow themselves to be pillaged. It will take mere days for the weight of the Blackout to be felt. In less than a week, the city will be on the verge of revolt.
Overburdened with admintrative tasks--transfering prisoners out of the region, moving money around to stop insolvency and provided nominal relieve in the form of bread lines, the Church and State will be unable to fully relieve the situation. Meanwhile, the Beaumonts will continue to work their public image. They continue to pay their employees 60% of their base wage to stand idle, showing that it isn't about the money for them (it is).