June 20 Uprising (30 Khordad)

On 20 June 1981, the Mojahedin-e Khalq organized massive anti-government protests in Tehran and other cities in response to the impeachment of President Abolhassan Banisadr. The Tehran demonstration attracted up to 500,000 people. Leading clerics declared demonstrators "enemies of God" subject to immediate execution. The IRGC violently suppressed the protests, killing approximately 50 people near Tehran University alone and arresting over 1,000. At least 23 arrested protesters, including teenage girls, were subsequently executed. This date marks the beginning of the MEK's open war with the Islamic Republic and the start of the 1981–1982 mass repressions that drove the organization underground and eventually into exile.