Erich Mielke demonstrations politically and giving "every DDR citizen the right to travel." On 17 October 1989, Mielke and the rest of the GDR's Politburo met to follow Gorbachev's demand, voiced in August, for Erich Honecker be removed as General Secretary of the SED and State Council chairman. Suspecting that Honecker's personal bodyguards might try to arrest the members of the Central Committee when they met to vote Honecker out in favour of Egon Krenz, Mielke saw to it that Stasi agents were stationed near the meeting room. While deliberations were underway, Mielke told Honecker that "we simply cannot start shooting with
Erich Honecker Bulgaria and Romania. East Germany was now not only behind the Iron Curtain to the West, but also cordoned off from most other Eastern bloc states. On 6–7 October 1989 the national celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the East German state took place with Gorbachev in attendance. To the surprise of Honecker and the other SED leaders in attendance, several hundred members of the Free German Youth—reckoned as the future vanguard of the party and nation—began chanting, ""Gorby, help us! Gorby, save us!"". In a private conversation between the two leaders Honecker praised the success of the nation, but