Black Friday (1978)

Black Friday occured September 8, 1978 in Iran. The country had long been convulsed with protests againts the rule of the Muhammad Reza Shah. The Shah thus declared Martial Law. This was ignored, however. On September 8 Tehran erupted with mass protests. Despite the largely peaceful nature of the protests the military used all available force to break up the demonstrations. This included the use of tanks and helicopter gunships. Many hundreds, mostly students, were killed.

The event utterly destroyed any moderate support the Shah had in Iran. An even large round of protests followed the massacre, one that shut down the oil industry, which was essential to the regimes srruvival.

The events were an important part of the lead up to the Iranian Revolution that saw the destruction of the Shah's regime less than a year later.