In a message released on Sunday, the mayor of Qom has emphasized using the wise directives of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the occasion of a 1978 popular uprising in the holy city.
Dr. Seyyed Morteza Saghaeiannejad referred to the strategies considered by the Supreme Leader, like maintaining an anti-arrogant spirit, paying attention to the principles of the revolution, including religious sovereignty and preserving unity, introducing the successes and achievements of the establishment, etc., saying we should try to follow them in order to better serve the people.
Ayatollah Khamenei addressed via video link a group of people from Qom on the anniversary of the popular uprising in the holy city against the former US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1978.
The January 9, 1978 uprising in Qom is seen as a very important historical juncture because it acted a precursor to more mass demonstrations in other cities across Iran, shaking the foundations of the despotic Pahlavi regime before finally toppling it in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The uprising was a reaction to the publication of an article titled “Iran and the Red and Black Colonialism” on the Persian-language Ettela’at daily, which had brazenly desecrated Imam Khomeini — the Islamic Revolution’s late leader and founder of the Islamic Republic. Many analysts have referred to January 9 uprising as the Islamic Revolution’s starting point.