The new British governor John Harding arrived at October 3. Harding sought to meet Archbishop Makarios, and both agreed on commencing what became known as "Harding-Makarios negotiations". Increased security and stepping up military might was of Harding's priorities. On November 26, Harding declared a State of Emergency – that meant among other, implementation of the death penalty for non-fatality crimes. Repressive legislation and troop reinforcements did not succeed. The Greek Cypriot population was hostile and the Special Branch was neutered. The British response was large-scale cordon and search operations which rarely resulted in arrests or the discovery of arms caches, but which invariably alienated those whose houses were searched or who were roughed up and dragged off to be screened. Collective punishments, far from undermining support for EOKA, only succeeded in making the Greek Cypriots more hostile to British rule. Moreover, Harding viewed Cyprus very much as a pawn in the Cold War global situation: on December 13 he banned AKEL and detained 128 of its leading members, effectively crippling the only political party in Cyprus that opposed EOKA.