The peaceful revolution

Today we remember that 70,000 people can be too many for a political system that they don't want.
During the autumn of 1989 cautious demonstrations developed out of the church based prayer groups that had met for some years and each Monday more people were brave enough to go onto the streets of Leipzig and other towns and cities in East Germany. On Sept 11th the police counted 1000 and arrested 89, by Sept 25th there were 5,000 and on October 2nd, 20,000. They were well aware of events in Peking that year. On Oct. 7th, 210 out of a crowd of 4,000 had been arrested, hospitals had been advised to make space available.
And on October 9th 1989 the well-armed police retreated before the crowd. Perhaps no-one wanted to take responsibilty for a bloodbath, history suggests that the authorities in Berlin were also unprepared for the size of the crowd.
The demonstrations continued, Oct 16th, 120,000; a week later, 200,000 were demanding reforms to the system. Unification with West Germany was not a demand.
The largest demo was on Nov.6th, 300- 400,000 people.