Vladimir Bernstein, a transfer from Moscow State U., discusses

coup "There were no plane tickets, so we took an overnight train to Moscow. When we got out of the railway station just across from the White House [the Russian Parliament building], we saw tanks. Not small tanks like you sometimes see in the movies, but huge, military tanks with soldiers and equipment. "At that time we realized it absolutely wasn't a joke. "When I got to Moscow, I saw people, Muscovites, were doing something, not just absorbing the coup. August 20 and 21, almost nobody worked in Moscow. There were chaotic crowds, people in the subway reading new flyers and independent newspapers that came out. "I went to the barricades. All of my friends went, eight or ten of us, but we couldn't get to the Russian Parliament building because it was too crowded. "We felt we had to be there in case they started moving. Tanks were standing their positions with their engines off. They were ready to go any time. "We went home to change clothes, and at 9 p.m. there was a curfew. We all wanted to go out, but my parents locked the door and took the keys. "My father went. He said there should be one family member there. That's enough. Most people expected there would be a lot of killings. "This was the most dramatic night. We didn't sleep. We sat by the radio. I didn't have short wave radio, so I could only listen to news from Moscow. Sometimes the broadcasts stopped, and I had to call my friends to find out what was going on. "I don't think anybody slept. In the apartment building across from me, all the lights were on. "I think the most dramatic episode was at 2 a.m. when [Russian President Boris] Yeltsin went to the balcony and said he wanted all the children and old people to leave the area because there were paratrooper planes on their way to Moscow. Very few people left, and a lot came in. "At five the next morning, the tanks started to leave, but it was not until 1 p.m. when we heard that people were going to the Crimea to get Gorbachev that we knew the coup had failed. "We saw tanks moving around the city, but we didn't know if they were going out or coming in or just going to the airport to guard the airport." (CUT LINE) Please see PROTEST, page 3 PROTEST, from page 1

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