On April 26, the central leadership, under Deng Xiaoping, issued the "4-26 Editorial" on "People's Daily", which was subsequently broadcast on national media, denouncing all recent actions of protest as a form of "turmoil" (). The editorial was the first in a series of events in an effort to contain the escalating protests through forceful measures. Thereafter, Deng's actions caused the presidency to have much greater power than originally intended. Various leaders sympathetic to the students, most notably Wan Li, then the NPC Chairman with a degree of constitutional powers to prevent full military action, were placed under house arrest after landing in Beijing. Wan's seclusion ensured that Premier Li Peng was able, in cooperation with Deng, then-head of the Central Military Commission, to use the office of the Premier to declare martial law in Beijing and order the military crackdown of the protests. This was in direct opposition to the wishes of the Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee.