Description

The demonstrations of June 5 and 6, also called the events of June 1963 or the 15 Khordad protests, were protests in Iran against the arrest of Ruhollah Khomeini after his denouncement of Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Israel. Although the protests were crushed within days by the police and military, the events established the importance and power of (Shia) religious opposition to the Shah, and Ayatollah Khomeini as a major political and religious leader. Fifteen years later, Khomeini led the Iranian Revolution which overthrew the Shah and the Imperial State of Iran and established the Islamic Republic of Iran.