In March 1990, Waigel publicly announced that his Government's policy was considering a proposal by its central bank, the Bundesbank, for conversion at a rate of one Deutsche mark for every two East marks, with an exception for a small portion of personal savings. In response, hundreds of thousands of East Germans to protest the plan, including about 10,000 in East Berlin, who took to the Palace of the Republic, where the newly elected Parliament was holding its inaugural meeting. Chancellor Helmut Kohl said that was not the policy after all.