Youlou's increasing favoritism massively sidelined and aggravated the northern peoples, not helped by his unhelpful comments that they might be better off joining the Central African Republic instead of staying with Congo.

[5] Protests began on August 12, consisting of organised workers and unemployed young people who had been drawn to the city by impoverished conditions elsewhere in the country who had become increasingly infuriated by Youlou's corruption, pro-French policies and ultra-conservatism.

[7] Massemba-Débat came to power sustained by a wide coalition of forces, all claiming to be Marxist or nationalist, but whose sole common ground was opposition to Youlou.

Within a few weeks, riots and violence at Brazzaville, perpetrated by armed youths and some army officers whose targets were the Lari and Western businessmen, indicated the regime's authority was weak.

To restore order and win the support of radical youth and labor leaders, Massemba-Débat forcibly merged them into single organizations called, respectively, the Jeunesse du Mouvement National de la Révolution (JMNR) and the Confédération Syndicale Congolaise (CSC).

[citation needed] Massemba-Débat's government of largely apolitical technocrats in many ways marked a far sharper break with the past than did Youlou's with the colonial administration.

Massemba-Débat deliberately set Congo on a new course of closer relations with the Socialist bloc; imposed state control over organized labor and segments of trade, transport, and natural resources.

He was careful, however, not to alienate the West, whose flow of technical and financial aid was vital to Congo; or to antagonize private investors by nationalizing existing business enterprises; or to permit the MNR's extremist paramilitary groups to estrange the armed forces.