June 20, 1981 (Saturday)
- In Tehran, demonstrations by the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) against the dismissal of Iran's President Banisadr became violent, and a wave of arrests and executions of PMOI members followed. According to some accounts, the Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the Islamic Revolutionary Guards to fire into the crowd and more than 100 demonstrators were killed. In another account, the PMOI battled with the Guards, with 15 dead on each side. In the first three weeks after the demonstration, 195 of Banisadr's supporters had been tried and executed. By year's end, the government had announced a total of 1,656 executions before a firing squad.
- Boxer Alexis Arguello, who had previously been featherweight world champion (1974–77) and junior lightweight champion (1978–80) became lightweight world champion, beating Jim Watt in a 15 round bout in London.
- Born Alisan Porter, American film actress (Curly Sue), in Worcester, Massachusetts
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“Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures ...”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)