<P> That evening Golitsyn used a (signed, but not yet dated) ukaze declaring that his Majesty had decided to interrupt the Duma until April, leaving it with no legal authority to act . </P> <P> During the late afternoon of 26 February O.S (11 March N.S) the Fourth Company of the Pavlovski Replacement Regiment broke out of their barracks upon learning that another detachment of the regiment had clashed with demonstrators near the Kazan Cathedral . After firing at mounted police the soldiers of the Fourth Company were disarmed by the Preobrazhensky Regiment . This marked the first instance of open mutiny in the Petrograd garrison . </P> <P> On the next day (27 February O.S, 12 March N.S), the Duma remained obedient, and "did not attempt to hold an official sitting". Then some delegates decided to form a Provisional Committee of the State Duma, led by Rodzianko and backed by major Moscow manufacturers and St. Petersburg bankers . Its first meeting was on the same evening and ordered the arrest of all the ex-ministers and senior officials . The Duma refused to head the revolutionary movement . At the same time, socialists also formed the Petrograd Soviet . In the Marinsky Palace the Council of Ministers of Russia, assisted by Rodzyanko, held its last meeting . Protopopov was told to resign and offered to commit suicide . The Council formally submitted its resignation to the Tsar . </P> <P> By nightfall, General Khabalov and his forces faced a capital controlled by revolutionaries . The protesters of Petrograd burned and sacked the premises of the district court, the headquarters of the secret police, and many police stations . They also occupied the Ministry of Transport, seized the arsenal, and released prisoners into the city . Army officers retreated into hiding and many took refuge in the Admiralty building, but moved that night to the Winter Palace . </P>

Describe the february revolution of 1917 in russia