Gideon

The Gideon is a heavy hauler transport vessel within The Fleet.

During Laura Roslin's removal from office and Colonel Tigh's enactment of martial law, Colonial marines, sent by Colonel Tigh and lead by Lieutenant Joe "Hammerhead" Palladino, killed four unnarmed civilians during a riot on that ship.

The civilians onboard were protesting Roslin's removal from the presidency, martial law and the dissolving of the Quorum of Twelve, by hindering an effort to resupply Galactica. During the protest, where coffee and other objects were thrown at the boarding party, the marines heard what they believed to be a gunshot. Believing that they were under attack, they fired into the crowd, until Palladino managed to weakly regain control of the situation after the damage had been inflicted (Resistance).

Reporter D'anna Biers would later hype the incident as the "Gideon massacre" to try to turn civillian opinion against Galactica ("Final Cut").

Notes

Gideon is the name of one of the biblical characters in the Book of Judges.

Original Series definition: the equivalent of saying "objection" in a Colonial Tribunal (TOS: "Murder on the Rising Star")

Galactica 1980 definition:  Dillon looks up this term after Jamie Hamilton orders a coffee at a diner, upon their return to 1980 Earth (1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III").