In the Iranian capital Tehran, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets again on Sunday, after it was announced on Saturday that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) had shot down a passenger plane with 176 passengers, including 83 Iranians, with a rocket.
Nobody survived the crash. Initially, Iranian authorities said that a technical fault was the cause, but US intelligence agencies soon reported having evidence that the aircraft had been knocked down.
While on Saturday the protests were peaceful and without major disturbances, the atmosphere on Sunday was grim. The riot police were deployed late in the evening to tear up the furious crowds with tear gas.
The British newspaper The Guardian writes that many protesters shouted that “America is not the enemy”. Many would have turned against President Hassan Rouhani’s regime, partly due to the economic recession, and demanding his resignation.
It is not clear whether people have been arrested and whether people have been injured. Messages and camera images circulating on social media give the impression that some demonstrators have been shot. The American president Donald Trump tweeted on the night of Sunday to Monday that he wants to sit down with Iran, “as long as protesters are not killed”.
Also demonstrations at the British embassy in Tehran
Not only was there protests against the Iranian government, the British embassy also had to suffer. At least two hundred protesters would have protested there.
The British ambassador Rob Macaire is said to have been present at an illegal demonstration the day before, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Macaire himself says it was a memorial meeting.
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