Homeland’s security forces had not received any riot-control training nor equipment since 1963. As result, police forces were unable to control demonstrations, thus the army was frequently deployed. Soldiers were instructed not to use deadly force, yet there were instances of inexperienced soldiers reacting excessively, inflaming the violence without cowing the opposition, and receiving official condemnation from the Shah.
According to the Shi’ite customs, memorial services (chehelom) are held 40 days after a person’s death. Encouraged by Khomeini (who declared that the blood of martyrs must water the “tree of Islam”). Radicals pressured the mosques and moderate clergy to commemorate the deaths of the students, and used the occasion to generate protests. The informal network of mosques and bazaars, which for years had been used to carry out religious events, increasingly became consolidated as a coordinated protest organization.
