Yazd, 1978

Compiled by: Islamic Revolution Website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2022-7-19

On the day of Tasua (the 9^th day of Muharram month), we set off for Yazd. We were informed that everyone from the surrounding cities is going to come to Yazd. Together with the people of Zarch, we started mourning in black clothes and on foot. The chants of "O people of shrine and standard-bearer didn't come, standard-bearer didn't come, the scholar didn't come" were mixed with slogans against the king and could be heard from the protesting people's throats. When we arrived at Shah Yazd Square, the army stopped us with a tank. When they saw us approaching, they pointed their guns at us. We all sat on the floor. If we went further, it was not unlikely that they would shoot. Since we assumed that the army would stop us, a day or two ago, I had entrusted the comrades to collect as many flowers as they could, so that if there was a conflict, we would throw flowers at the army. We had agreed to chant in support of the army. That has happened. Until the guns were pointed at us, we started chanting: "Army brother, why are you killing your brother?" Army brother, why are you killing your brother?

      Meanwhile, we threw flowers at them. When their boss realized that we did not intend to fight, he signaled me to go to him from a distance. When I approached him, he calmly said to me: "Sir, we have been ordered to stop you. We can't get away from it either. But on the other hand, we cannot shoot at you. You tell the people to pass by the side streets and sidewalks next to us."

     That army gave me Gera with his words. I told the three people who were in direct contact with me to divide the people into groups of twenty. Those three people went among the crowd and spread the news to everyone. We had an interesting organization; From the beginning, I was supposed to have a relationship with three people. Those three people each with three other people. The rest are the same so that our messages reach everyone quietly and quickly. Everything went according to plan. Crowds started walking towards Hazira Mosque from the surrounding alleys and sidewalks. No one stopped them. We didn't shout any slogans until the mosque and the march was completely peaceful. When we reached the mosque and saw the crowd of several thousand people, we all, in a stronger tone, started chanting: "Cannons, tanks, machine guns are no longer effective!"

      We also joined groups in Yazd and other cities. The anger and disgust of several years was surging in the eyes of all the people of Yazd; It was known that for years, the people who had their eyes on the statue in the middle of the square had cursed the owner of the statue and his father. People's angry eyes were staring at the statue that was looking around. With the crowd in a frenzy, we threw a tow rope to pull the statue down. No matter what we did, the statue did not fall. It was too heavy and broke the wire. Finally, some people went and brought a trailer. Meanwhile, the call to prayer could be heard from the mosque's garlands. There were so many people that the only place to pray was in the middle of the street. On the other hand, it would be easier with these bandits. He pulled down the statue of the king because the officers could not stop him. At the comrade's suggestion, Mr. Sadouqi agreed to stand in front of the Sharafuddin Ali library to lead the prayer. I also renewed my ablution and stood next to people in the prayer line. When the prayer was over, one of the comrades reported that the statue finally fell. I went to Shah Square again and with my friends, we threw the head of the statue in the back of a van and took it to Zarch. I wanted to remove the statue's eyes from the bowl. With that pompous hat, he thought it was our blessing and the ration-eating people in his eyes. He thought that if he placed his statue in the middle of the cities, people would fall in love with him, he thought that people would be hungry to see him day and night. When I arrived in Zarch, we immediately took the statue out of the car and buried it near the Shah Mosque, because on the one hand it was difficult to break it, and on the other hand, we had no choice but to bury the statue in the dirt. Since we came back, some kids scared us. They said that the agents might have followed us. We immediately returned and took the head of the statue out of the soil and buried it in the house of Mr. Mirza Iqbali, one of the revolutionaries of Yazd. We were relieved a little, but that night we stayed awake until the morning to escape if the agents came to the house. The next day, it was me again, the terminal, the bus, and the road from Yazd to Qom.

Source: Room Number 2, Memoirs of Abolqasem Iqbalian, Reza Yazdani, Tehran, Surah Mehr, 2019, pp. 132-134.