On 4 November 1989, a demonstration attended by over 500 000 people takes place in East Berlin. The demonstrators call for more reforms and greater freedom for the press. Under the pressure of the crowd assembled on the Alexanderplatz, the ruling regime accepts the debate and Günter Schabowski, a leading member of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), gives an address which is booed by the crowd of demonstrators.