The armed working class forces pursued those who sympathised with the military coup and burnt down churches and seized factories. The legitimacy of the Generalitat was maintained but it was unable to guarantee public order. Union and political organisations set up the Central Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias and organised a people's army. The first column, with 3,000 militiamen, commanded by Bonaventura Durruti, marched towards Aragon on 23 July. At the end of September, Lluís Companys formed the Generalitat Council and dissolved the Central Committee. Thousands of women joined the anti-fascist resistance.