The separatist Interior Minister promised amnesty to any prison inmates who would join pro-independence rallies. Among the prisoners was Ruslan Labazanov, who was serving a sentence for armed robbery and murder in Grozny and later headed a pro-Dudayev militia. As crowds of armed separatists gathered in Grozny, President Yeltsin sought to declare a state of emergency in the region, but his efforts were thwarted by the Russian parliament. An early attempt by Russian authorities to confront the pro-independence forces in November 1991 ended after just three days.