From reading Janet Afary's "Iranian Revolution of 1978–79" I learned that on January 1979, thousands of young religious school students took to the streets protesting a newspaper that had slandered the name of the Khomeini in Iran; those who followed the students were considered the unemployed immigrants that protested the regime's "excesses". The shah, who was in charge of Iran at that time, would give in to some demands and forcefully shut down others. The government killed many citizens who were part of anti-regime protests and fueled more acts of violence by the citizens. Many acts of violence by the people of Iran were considered acts of "martyrdom". Khomeini who was exiled during this time in 1979 would declare the Shah a failure; In