 The quasi-democratic Congress of People's Deputies held its second autumnal session in 1989 during a nationwide miners' strike.One consequence was the abolition in March 1990 of Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution (1977), which had explicitly established the primacy of the Communist Party within the Soviet State, a hitherto unspoken but all-pervasive dominance of the system.The authorities formed units of riot police OMON to cope with the unprecedented and mounting incidence of protests and rallies across the USSR.