Iran plane downing: Second day of protests turns up heat on leaders

2020-01-12 17:47:34

Iran's leaders are facing a second day of protests following their admission the military shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board, many of them Iranians. Demonstrators gathered at universities in Tehran and at sites in other cities, calling for senior officials to go. Riot police have been sent to Tehran's Azadi Square and at other landmarks. Iran admitted "unintentionally" hitting the plane after initially denying it amid rising tensions with the US. The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was shot down near Tehran last Wednesday, shortly after Iran had launched missiles at two airbases housing US forces in Iraq. Those strikes were a response to the US killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad on 3 January. Dozens of Iranians and Canadians, as well as nationals from Ukraine, the UK, Afghanistan and Sweden died on the plane.