Aborigines pitch a Tent Embassy on Australia Day outside parliament in Canberra to highlight political injustices

British paratroops open fire on a civil rights march in Derry, killing thirteen, in what becomes known as Bloody Sunday

The Polisario is formed to fight for the independence of Western Sahara

The Polisario, as a government-in-exile in Algeria, proclaim the independence of Western Sahara as the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic

Steve Biko, founder of Black Consciousness, dies of head wounds received in police custody in Pretoria

Shining Path and Tupac Amaru emerge as left-wing guerrilla groups in Peru

Sandinista guerrillas make a surprise attack on the National Palace in Nicaragua, taking more than 1000 people hostage

Demonstrations take place throughout Iran, demanding Islamic rule under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini

Ayatollah Khomeini receives a rapturous welcome on his return to Iran to head the Islamic Revolutionary Committee

Communist measures in Afghanistan provoke a Muslim jihad and the murder of more than 100 Russians in Herat

Opponents of the Sandinistas flee from Nicaragua into Honduras, where they become known as the Contras

Supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini seize the US embassy in Tehran, taking hostage 66 US citizens

Rebels storm the Spanish parliament in Madrid and briefly hold the members hostage, in a military coup that fails

Sikh rebels, demanding an independent Punjab, seize the Golden Temple in Amritsar

Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi uses the army to dislodge militant Sikhs occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar

The Rwandan Patriotic Front is formed, by a group of exiles, to bring about the downfall of Habyarimana's regime in Rwanda

An Intifada begins against Israeli occupation of Palestinian land

Hamas (acronym in Arabic for 'Movement for Islamic Resistance') is founded in the occupied territories to lead armed resistance against Israel

Osama bin Laden's involvement in the fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan leads to his development of al-Qaeda

Students, teachers and workers gather in large numbers in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to demand democratic reform

The crowd demonstrating on Beijing's Tiananmen Square swells to more than a million

Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany since 1971, is forced to resign after massive popular demonstrations

Citizens of East Berlin demolish the Berlin Wall, in what proves a symbolic end to the Cold War

Nelson Mandela is given an ecstatic reception on his release after twenty-six years in prison on Robben Island, near Cape Town

The Conservative government's poll tax is greeted with violent riots in London and a campaign of non-payment