Iranian police dispersed students on Saturday who chanted "destructive" and "radical" slogans in Tehran at a rally in memory of the victims on board the Ukrainian Boeing that was shot down "accidentally" by Iran on Wednesday, according to the report. Iranian news agency Fars.
According to journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) on site, several hundred students gathered in the early evening in response to an invitation to honor the victims of this disaster which left 176 dead, mainly Iranians and Canadians, including binationals. The rally at the prestigious Amir Kabir University in Tehran turned into anger. The crowd launched slogans denouncing "the liars" and demanding prosecution of those responsible for the drama and those who, according to the demonstrators, tried to cover it up.
Students allegedly tore a banner with the image of Soleimani
Iran admitted on Saturday that it had shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 with a missile shortly after taking off from Tehran when it had previously firmly denied the idea of a missile launch yet mentioned by Wednesday by Canada.
According to Fars, close to the ultra-conservatives, the angry students tore up one of the many posters in honor of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, killed on January 3 in an American drone attack in Baghdad. For the Islamic Republic of Iran, this head of the Quds Force, responsible for the external operations of the Guardians of the Revolution (the Iranian ideological army), appears to be a "living martyr" and a hero. The Fars agency published several photos of the rally and another showing a banner torn with the effigy of a smiling Soleimani. The police "dispersed" the students when they left university and began to "block the street and create a traffic jam," said Fars.
Extremely rare, state television made mention of this demonstration on the air, and noted that the students had chanted "anti-diet slogans". A video that could not be authenticated circulated on Saturday evening on social networks of what could be the police firing tear gas at the demonstrators. The video notably shows a man getting up after being apparently hit by a projectile in the leg.
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