After Iran admitted to having “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board, there were massive anti-government protests carried out in several cities of Iran.
On Sunday night the authorities resorted to using teargas to stop the people from protesting. The protests had started spreading to several cities on the second day.
The protestors called out the government for the killing of 176 passengers in the Ukranian flight. The protestors also compared the Revolutionary Guards and their paramilitary allies to Islamic State. “You’re our Isis,” they said, reported The Guardian.
After denying the accusation for three days, Iran had taken responsibility for the tragedy.
President Rouhani said a military probe into the tragedy had found “missiles fired due to human error” brought down the Boeing 737, calling it an “unforgivable mistake”.
The plane, which had been bound for Kiev, slammed into a field shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport before dawn on Wednesday. It came only hours after Iran’s armed forces launched a wave of missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran’s top generals, in a US drone strike.
Among the passengers who lost their lives were 57 Canadian victims. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told at a memorial event in Edmonton that “this tragedy struck our Iranian-Canadian community, leaving cities like Edmonton reeling, but this was truly a Canadian tragedy.” “We want to assure all families and all Canadians that we will not rest until there are answers,” he said on Monday.