How it began

"...And the people of Constantinople, on account of their boundless woe over the newfangled teachings, attempted to attack and kill the Emperor's soldiers who had dislodged the icon of Christ from the Chalke Gate. And then many of them, especially members of the aristocracy and prominent people, were punished for their piety, being dismembered, flogged, exiled or fined."

(Theophanis, Chronographia, ed. C. De Boor, vol. 1, Leipzig 1883, pp. 404-405 - in Greek)