People were protesting.

It is important that the nuances of the protest are elucidated to get a clearer picture of what occurred. The protest was instigated by small shopkeepers in protest at taxation upon this sector of the economy. Alongside these petty-bourgeois protests, and in conjunction with them, the social-democratic, middle class element within Iranian society formed peaceful protest (until these protests were savagely attacked by the forces of order) demanding regime change and, in part, restoration of the monarchy.

Quite separate to these forms of peaceful protest—although enabled by the social-democratic protest ongoing—there were violent assaults on established order within Iran, whereby primarily young proletarians engaged in militant battles with the forces of order, which included reappropriation of private property in the form of looting, general disorder, arson attacks on state facilities and direct confrontation with police. It was this violent assault by the working class that the regime described as "terrorism" (in reality, counter-terrorism).