1987 Mecca Incident

1987 Mecca Incident

A violent clash between Shia pilgrims and demonstrators and the Saudi Arabian security forces during the Hajj pilgrimage, which led to the deaths of over 400 people, occurred in Mecca on 31 July 1987. The event has been variously described as a "riot" or a "massacre." It arose from escalating tensions between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Since 1981, Iranian pilgrims had held an annual demonstration against Israel and the United States, but in 1987, a cordon of Saudi police and National Guards had sealed part of the planned demonstration route, leading to a confrontation between them and the pilgrims. This escalated into a violent clash, followed by a deadly stampede. There is a controversy regarding the details of the incident, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia laying much of the blame on the other side. Some sources claim the death toll from the incident was 402 people: 275 Iranian pilgrims, 85 Saudi police, and 42 pilgrims from other nationalities. Other sources claim that more than 400 pilgrims had died, and thousands more injured.