For a third consecutive day, anti-government protests have broken out in Iran after the country's military admitted it had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet killing all 176 people aboard. Since January 11, Iranian authorities have struggled to contain public anger over the government's handling of the incident. Initially, Iranian authorities repeatedly said it was impossible for the country's military to shoot down the civilian plane.
Iranian Protests Continue After Tehran Admits Shooting Down Passenger Plane
- By RFE/RL
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Anti-government protesters at Tehran's Sharif University on January 13, with demonstrators chanting slogans against the Iranian leadership, according to social-media posts.
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Iranian students at Amir Kabir University on January 12 carried banners expressing condolences for the victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752. Iran's military said the passenger jet was shot down "unintentionally" by its air-defense forces, which were on high alert following an Iranian ballistic-missile attack a few hours earlier against U.S. forces in Iraq.
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Protesters avoided stepping on the U.S. and Israeli flags while gathering at Beheshti University campus on January 12. Just nine days earlier, other angry crowds were seen burning those flags after Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq.
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A protester kicks a poster of slain Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in Tehran on January 12.
