In January 1978, incensed by what they considered to be slanderous remarks made against Khomeini in Eṭṭelāʿāt, , thousands of young religious school students took to the streets.
They were followed by thousands more Iranian youth—who began protesting the Shah regime’s excesses. The shah, stunned by the sudden outpouring against him.
Many people were killed by forces in anti-Shah regime protests, in a country where martyrdom played a fundamental role in religious expression.
Fatalities were followed by demonstrations to commemorate the customary 40-day milestone of mourning in Shia Muslim tradition, and further casualties occurred at those protests, mortality and protest propelling one another forward.
Thus, in spite of all Shah regime efforts, the struggle for revolution was boosted each death fueled further protest slogans, which could be heard at protests and which issued from the rooftops in the evenings.
During his exile, Imam Khomeini coordinated this upsurge of opposition—first from Iraq and after 1978 from France—demanding the shah’s abdication. In January 1979, in what was officially described as a “vacation,” the shah and his family fled Iran.
Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar, hastily appointed by the shah before his departure. Crowds in excess of one million demonstrated in Tehrān, proving the wide appeal of ImamKhomeini, who arrived in Iran amid rejoicing on February 1. Ten days later Bakhtiar went into hiding, eventually to find exile in France.