20 June 1981 Iranian protests

{{main|Cultural Revolution in Iran|1981–1982 Iran Massacres|Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution}}

On June 14, 1980, Ayatollah Khomeini initiated an order aimed to "purify" higher education by removing Western, liberal, and leftist elements, leading to the closure of universities, the banning of student unions, and violent occupations of campuses. Following the 1979 revolution, the MEK started to gain popularity among university students. During the Cultural Revolution in Iran, clerics imposed policies to Islamize Iranian society, including the expulsion of critical academics, the suppression of secular political groups, and the persecution of intellectuals and artists. These measures sparked large-scale protests across the country.{{cite journal |last1=Nasiri |first1=Shahin |last2=Faghfouri Azar |first2=Leila |date=28 July 2022 |title=Investigating the 1981 Massacre in Iran: On the Law-Constituting Force of Violence |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=164–187 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2022.2105027 |s2cid=251185903 |doi-access=free }}{{cite book|last1=Afary|first1=Janet|title=Sexual Politics in Modern Iran |date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=19-27}}{{cite book |last1=Axworthy |first1=Michael |title=Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-046896-5|page=180 |language=en}}

On the final day of the elections, Rajavi met with President Abolhassan Banisadr, complaining that the IRP and its Hezbollah supporters were systematically intimidating voters, disrupting rallies, assaulting campaign workers, and setting ballot boxes on fire. The MEK then arrived at two key conclusions: first, that they had enough popular backing to serve as an opposition to the IRP; and second, that the IRP would not allow them to operate as an opposition.{{sfn|Abrahamian|1989|pp=204–205}} The group began clashing with the ruling Islamic Republican Party while avoiding direct and open criticism of Khomeini.{{sfn|Zabih|1988|p=250}} The MEK was in turn suppressed by Khomeini's revolutionary organizations.{{cite book|last1=Bakhash|first1=Saul|title=The reign of the ayatollahs|date=1990|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-06890-6|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-7CAAAAIAAJ|access-date=17 December 2014}}

In response to the widely disputed impeachment of President Banisadr, the MEK organized a large-scale protest against Khomeini on June 20, 1981, intending to topple the regime.{{sfn|Abrahamian|1989|pp=218, 219}} Big crowds gathered in various cities, with the Tehran protest alone attracting up to 500,000 people. Leading clerics proclaimed that demonstrators would be considered "enemies of God" and face immediate execution regardless of age. This marked the beginning of the 1981–1982 Iran Massacres led by the Islamic government.{{cite journal |last1=Nasiri |first1=Shahin |last2=Faghfouri Azar |first2=Leila |date=28 July 2022 |title=Investigating the 1981 Massacre in Iran: On the Law-Constituting Force of Violence |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=164–187 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2022.2105027 |s2cid=251185903 |doi-access=free }}{{cite news |date=|title=Dream of Iranian revolution turns into a nightmare|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0803/080356.html|work=csmonitor|location= |access-date=}}{{Cite journal |url=https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/investigating-the-1981-massacre-in-iran-on-the-law-constituting-f|title=Investigating the 1981 Massacre in Iran: On the Law-Constituting Force of Violence|journal=Journal of Genocide Research|date=2024 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2022.2105027 |last1=Nasiri |first1=Shahin |last2=Faghfouri Azar |first2=Leila |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=164–187 |doi-access=free }}

On 20 June 1981 protests were seen in Tehran, Isfahan, Urmia, Shiraz, Arak, Ahvaz, and Bandar Abbas. Protests in Tehran were focused in the city centre and around areas such as Enghelab street, Ferdowsi square, Moniriyeh square, Taleghani street, and Vali Asr street. The government responded swiftly.

In the area around Tehran University, 50 people were killed, 200 wounded, and 1,000 taken into custody, surpassing the intensity of most street battles during the Islamic Revolution. 23 demonstrators were also executed by firing squads, with teenage girls among those executed. From June 24 to 27, the regime executed an additional 50 people. The reported number of executions increased to "600 by September, 1700 by October, and 2500 by December." Initially, the regime publicly displayed the bodies and took pride in declaring the execution of entire families, "including teenage daughters and 60-year-old grandmothers."{{sfn|Abrahamian|1989|p=206-207,219-220|ps= "Prominent clerics declared that demonstrators, irrespective of their age, would be treated as 'enemies of God' and as such would be executed on the spot. Hezbolahis were armed and trucked in to block off the major streets. Pasdars were ordered to shoot. Fifty were killed, 200 injured, and 1000 arrested in the vicinity of Tehran University alone. This surpassed most of the street clashes of the Islamic Revolution. The warden of Evin Prison announced with much fanfare that firing squads had executed twenty-three demonstrators, including a number of teenage girls. The reign of terror had begun."}}{{harvnb|Katzman|2001|p=101|ps=. "Khomeini refused to allow Masud Rajavi to run in January 1980 presidential elections because the PMOI had boycotted a referendum on the Islamic republican constitution."}} A few days before the protest, Asadollah Lajevardi ordered the arrests of Massoud Rajavi and Mousa Khiabani; but the security forces could not locate them.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2011/06/110625_l78_30khordad60_shahsavandi2.shtml|title=گام به گام تا فاجعه؛ محاسبه هر دو طرف اشتباه بود|first=سعید شاهسوندی عضو سابق کمیته مرکزی سازمان مجاهدین خلق|last=ایران|website=BBC News فارسی|date=25 June 2011}}

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