Iran is marking a popularuprising in1963 which touched off a series of chainevents, leading to the victory of the Islamic Revolutionsome 15years later.
Known as15 Khordad Uprisingin the Iranian calendar, falling onJune 4th this year,the event marks mass protests by Iranians against the arrest of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini after he attacked the country's pro-WesternShah and Israel in a speechsome 53 years ago.
On June 5 and 6 of1963, angry protesters were confronted by tanks and paratroopers in the Iranian cities of Qom, Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad and Varamin in a crackdown in which about 15,000 people were killed.
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This file photo shows the former Pahlavi regimes armed forces attacking protesters on June 5, 1963[/caption]The uprising opened a new chapter in a grassrootsresistance against the regime of of the former Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whofaced a legitimacy crisis after a CIA-engineered coup in 1953.
After 15 Khordad Uprising, however,the regime stepped up its heavy-handed crackdown, going on a spree of arrest, jailing and executionofthe clergy and dissidents, which fueled further unrest.
Throughout those years, Imam Khomeini was sent to exile in Iraq, Turkey and France for 14 years, before returning to Iran which culminated in the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
By Press TV
