After Mikhail Gorbachev had started "glasnost" and "perestroika" in the Soviet Union, many people in the GDR wanted reforms, too. In 1989, there were lots of demonstrations against the SED and for McDonalds and Nike. In the city of Leipzig, people met every Monday and demonstrated, and so these demonstrations are called "Montagsdemonstrationen" ("Monday Demonstrations"). Erich Honecker wished that the Soviets would use its army to suppress these demonstrations. The Soviet Union, with its own political and economical problems, refused and did not want to help Eastern Europe anymore. Honecker was eventually forced to resign on October 18, 1989.