Saturday, February 18, 1978

The uprising of people in Tabriz to commemorate martyrs of Qom uprising

Navideshahed- On 18 February 1978 which was coincident with the fortieth day of the bloody events of Qom various mourning ceremonies were held across the country.

News ID: ۱۴۴۴۱

پنجشنبه - ۱۷ ارديبهشت ۲۰۱۴ / 2014 17 February

On January 9, the uprising of people of Qom in protest to publication of a derogatory article in Ettelaat Newspaper under the pseudonym of Ahmad Rashidi Motlaq was savagely suppressed and on the occasion of the fortieth day of this tragedy people across the country were preparing to hold ceremonies.
In Tabriz it was also appointed that people gather in Qezeli (Mirza Aqa Yousef Mojtahed) Mosque on the invitation of Ayatollah Qazi Tabatabaee and ten other clerics of the city.
On February 18 people gathered in front of the mosque. The head of police station of bazaar Major Maqsoud Haq Shenas in consort with some other forces asked people to scatter and by sacrilege of the mosque, discourteously prevented them from arriving it. This insult infuriated a zealous youth named Mohammad Tajalli causing him to grapple with him, but Haq Shenas martyred this 22-year old youth by his pistol. Inflamed people took the bloody body of this martyr and moved across the streets and gradually a broad protesting rally was formed. Given the extensiveness of the popular uprising, Yahya Liqavani, Head of SAVAK of Tabriz, contacted with Tehran and the Shah ordered Amouzegar to maintain the main centers and violently suppress people. The security council of the province ordered deployment of armored units and vehicles inclusive of tanks and personnel carriers across the city, but with resistance of the zealous inhabitants of Tabriz, the city was colored with the blood of people from different layers of the society, adding another crime to dossier of the Pahlavi Regime. Eventually, the regime hirelings got control over the city at 5 pm. According to SAVAK statistics: “581 were arrested, 9 killed, 118 injured. 3 tanks, 2 cinemas, 1 hotel, Kakh-e Javanan (palace of the youth), Rastakhiz Party headquarters and some personal and governmental cars were burned.”? Massacre of people of Tabriz astonished the Shah, because he imagined he had been able to cover the tragedy of Qom up with a thick curtain and even deceive the UN Secretary-General and divert the foreign public opinion from understanding the truth of it, but uprising of people of Tabriz changed everything.

On January 9, the uprising of people of Qom in protest to publication of a derogatory article in Ettelaat Newspaper under the pseudonym of Ahmad Rashidi Motlaq was savagely suppressed and on the occasion of the fortieth day of this tragedy people across the country were preparing to hold ceremonies. In Tabriz it was also appointed that people gather in Qezeli (Mirza Aqa Yousef Mojtahed) Mosque on the invitation of Ayatollah Qazi Tabatabaee and ten other clerics of the city. On February 18 people gathered in front of the mosque. The head of police station of bazaar Major Maqsoud Haq Shenas in consort with some other forces asked people to scatter and by sacrilege of the mosque, discourteously prevented them from arriving it. This insult infuriated a zealous youth named Mohammad Tajalli causing him to grapple with him, but Haq Shenas martyred this 22-year old youth by his pistol. Inflamed people took the bloody body of this martyr and moved across the streets and gradually a broad protesting rally was formed. Given the extensiveness of the popular uprising, Yahya Liqavani, Head of SAVAK of Tabriz, contacted with Tehran and the Shah ordered Amouzegar to maintain the main centers and violently suppress people. The security council of the province ordered deployment of armored units and vehicles inclusive of tanks and personnel carriers across the city, but with resistance of the zealous inhabitants of Tabriz, the city was colored with the blood of people from different layers of the society, adding another crime to dossier of the Pahlavi Regime. Eventually, the regime hirelings got control over the city at 5 pm. According to SAVAK statistics: “581 were arrested, 9 killed, 118 injured. 3 tanks, 2 cinemas, 1 hotel, Kakh-e Javanan (palace of the youth), Rastakhiz Party headquarters and some personal and governmental cars were burned.”? Massacre of people of Tabriz astonished the Shah, because he imagined he had been able to cover the tragedy of Qom up with a thick curtain and even deceive the UN Secretary-General and divert the foreign public opinion from understanding the truth of it, but uprising of people of Tabriz changed everything.