By 1978, this political unrest became a popular revolution leading to the monarchy's overthrow. The Jaleh Square massacre, where his military killed and wounded dozens of protestors; the Cinema Rex fire, an arson attack largely but erroneously blamed on SAVAK in Abadan; defections and mutinies in the armed forces; the Muharram protests of over 5 million Iranians; and a meeting of western leaders that the Shah felt was a withdrawal of their support, made his position in Iran untenable. He left Iran for exile on 17 January 1979. While the Shah told his contemporaries in the West that he would rather leave than fire on his people, his military killed many non-violent protesters, with the total number of people killed during the revolution ranging from 2,000 (Western figures) to 60,000 (figures of the Islamic Republic of Iran). Soon thereafter, the Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic led by Ruhollah Khomeini. The Shah died in exile in Egypt, whose president, Anwar Sadat, had granted him asylum.