Tabriz uprising of 1978

Culture of origin: Azerbaijani · Historical

Holiday sources: Azerbaijani

On 29 Bahman 1356 (18 February 1978), the fortieth day after protesters were killed in Qom, crowds marched in Tabriz from ten in the morning. According to accounts including the memoirs of Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari, the head of the Bazaar police station, Haqshenas, shot dead a 22-year-old protester, Mohammad Tajalla, with his pistol. Local police reportedly refused to fire on the demonstrators, so the Shah brought in troops from outside Azerbaijan, the army's first direct part in such clashes since the uprising of June 1963; street fighting went on into the next day. Estimates of the dead range from 9 (SAVAK's report, which also counted 581 arrests) to 27, and some sources say more than 70; 118 to 262 were wounded. The Islamic Republic's official calendar has since claimed the day as the "Tabriz people's uprising".