Iranian demonstrators defied a heavy police presence to protest their country’s days of denials that it shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian demonstrators defied a heavy police presence Sunday night to protest their country’s days of denials that it shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 176 people, the latest unrest to roil the capital amid soaring tensions with the United States.
Iran’s state-run media, as well as semiofficial news agencies and publications, did not immediately report on the demonstrations. However, international rights groups already have called on Iran to allow people to protest peacefully as allowed by the country’s constitution. The plane crash early Wednesday killed everyone on board, mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians. After initially pointing to a technical failure and insisting the armed forces were not to blame, authorities on Saturdayin the face of mounting evidence and accusations by Western leaders.
Iranians have expressed anger over the downing of the plane and the misleading explanations from senior officials in the wake of the tragedy. They are also mourning the dead, which included many young people who were studying abroad. Another individual, who identified himself only as Saeed, said Iran’s largely state-run media had concealed the cause of the crash for “political reasons.”Earlier Sunday, hundreds of students gathered at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University to mourn the victims and protest against authorities for concealing the cause of the crash, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.
President Donald Trump, who has expressed support for past waves of anti-government demonstrations in Iran, addressed the country’s leaders in a tweet, saying “DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS.” He later tweeted the same message again in Farsi.Iranians demonstrated in November after the government hiked gas prices, holding large protests across the nation. The government shut down internet access for days, making it difficult to gauge the scale of the protests and the subsequent crackdown.
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