[1] Jamshid Sedaghat, a historian in Shiraz, has said attacks happened annually during the late 19th century, finally ending as a result of pressure from Europe.
For example, in the middle of the 19th century, J. J. Benjamin wrote about the life of Persian Jews: "…they are obliged to live in a separate part of town…; for they are considered as unclean creatures… Under the pretext of their being unclean, they are treated with the greatest severity and should they enter a street, inhabited by Mussulmans, they are pelted by the boys and mobs with stones and dirt… For the same reason, they are prohibited to go out when it rains; for it is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet of the Mussulmans… If a Jew is recognized as such in the streets, he is subjected to the greatest insults.
The passers-by spit in his face, and sometimes beat him… unmercifully… If a Jew enters a shop for anything, he is forbidden to inspect the goods… Should his hand incautiously touch the goods, he must take them at any price the seller chooses to ask for them...
Then, on the first day of Sukkot, several Jews were coming home from a synagogue when they saw a veiled woman standing at the entrance of their house with a parcel.
They were accompanied by a bazaar merchant, who stated that one of his children, a girl of four, had disappeared in the afternoon in the Jewish quarter, where she had been killed to obtain her blood.
The people withdrew after threatening to put the entire Jewish quarter to fire and sword if the girl had not been found by noon the next day.
The next morning, a crowd began to gather in front of the government palace; the people were accusing the Jews of murdering the girl and were vociferously demanding vengeance.
The temporary governor ordered the troops to attack the "mob", and the crowd headed for the Jewish quarter, where they arrived simultaneously with the soldiers.
Soldiers, sayyids, Qashqais who were in the city to sell some livestock, even women and children, joined in the pillage, which lasted for six to seven hours, not sparing a single one of 260 houses in the Jewish quarter.
As a result of the pogrom, the Jewish quarter was completely devastated: Women, men, and old folk are rolling in the dust, beating their chests and demanding justice.