In Portugal, Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves said the Portuguese Armed Forces were not seeking FRELIMO's help in restoring order, and said that he saw the events not as a coup d'état, "but rather a desperate act by a minority which does not understand the historic processes and the ways of the future." By the time the weeklong coup attempt had ended, homes and businesses had been looted, and 86 people were dead, including 27 whites. Shortly after the failed coup d'état attempt, a transitional, black-majority government was installed, led by Joaquim Chissano as premier. In the two weeks that followed, 25,000 whites left Mozambique, about 10% of the white population. Many moved to South Africa, Portugal, or Rhodesia. In a statement published in the newspaper Noticias, Chissano tried to stem the white flight, telling those who were not responsible for the violence that they were welcome to return. In 1974, Alberto Massavanhane was appointed by the transitional government as the first black mayor of Lourenço Marques. During the transitional period, frequent strikes at the city's port were held in protest, which FRELIMO put down forcefully. After independence On 25 June 1975, the People's Republic of Mozambique was proclaimed in accordance with the Lusaka Accord. In Lourenço Marques, independence was celebrated with a parade and state banquet. Dozens of statues of historical Portuguese figures, including those of Vasco da Gama and Lourenço Marques, were taken down. In addition, many of the city's institutions and streets, originally named for heroes or important dates in Portuguese history, had their names changed to African languages, revolutionary figures, or pre-colonial historic names. Many were named for socialist and anti-colonial leaders, including Kim Il-sung, Friedrich Engels, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, and Robert Mugabe. White residents of Mozambique, a large portion of whom resided in the capital, were given a 90-day period to accept Mozambican citizenship and stay, or to leave the country. Most decided to leave: in April 1974 there were 220,000 whites, including 80,000 soldiers; but by July 1975, 55,000 civilians plus all the troops had left, leaving just 85,000 whites in the country. In Maputo specifically, white neighborhoods lost an average of one-third of their residents; some areas lost as many as half. Most of the whites who chose to leave were only allowed to take one suitcase each and $150 worth of escudos. As the white elites left, the city (and the country