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

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Iran’s leaders have faced 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.

Protesters in Tehran and in several other cities chanted slogans against the leadership.

Clashes with security forces and the firing of tear gas are reported.

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.