On 18 September 1988, the military retook power in the country. General Saw Maung repealed the 1974 constitution and established the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), "imposing more Draconian measures than Ne Win had imposed."[65] After Maung had imposed martial law, the protests were violently broken up. The government announced on the state-run radio that the military had assumed power in the peoples interest, "in order to bring a timely halt to the deteriorating conditions on all sides all over the country."[66] Tatmadaw troops went through cities throughout Burma, indiscriminately firing on protestors.[67] Within the first week of securing power, 1,000 students, monks and schoolchildren were killed, and another 500 were killed whilst protesting outside the United States embassy[47] – footage caught by a cameraman nearby who distributed the footage to the world's media.[68] Maung described the dead as "looters".[68] Protestors were pursued into the jungle and some students took up training on the country's borders with Thailand.[61]