Tear Gas Canister Fired During Protests In Iran

Tear gas canisters were fired on Sunday evening to disperse anti-government protests in Iran and at least one person was injured, according to videos circulating on social media on Monday.

Rallies were held on Sunday for the second evening in a row after the Iranian armed forces finally admitted that Ukrainian Airlines flight PS572, which crashed on January 8 after taking off from Tehran, had been shot down by a missile fired “by mistake” while defending the country was level alert “war” for fear of an American attack.

Hours before the tragedy, Iran had fired missiles at two bases housing American soldiers in Iraq, in response to death on January 3 in an American drone fire by powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The announcement of the responsibility of the armed forces in the crash has created a wave of indignation in the country.

According to videos circulating on social networks, a crowd seemed to be chanting slogans against the authorities on the famous Azadi square (“freedom”) in Tehran.

Several videos, including some shared by the Center for Human Rights in Iran – a New York-based NGO – seem to show protesters shouting and dispersing as tear gas canisters are fired amidst a crowded compact on Azadi street which leads to the square.

Nigeria News could not independently verify the exact time and location of these videos, often shared via Telegram or other messaging services. However, Nigeria News did not find any trace of these videos on the internet before their publication in recent days.

In a video, a woman appears to have fallen on the sidewalk, streaked with blood, and is lifted by several people, some of whom shouted “she was shot”, “bandage the (wound)”.

On others, published as images of a demonstration in the city of Amol, by the Caspian Sea, we can see a crowd parading in the streets shouting “we do not want the Islamic Republic”.

State television on Saturday had mentioned a demonstration in Tehran, noting that the protesters had chanted “anti-regime” slogans.

For several days, Iran had denied the missile thesis advanced by several countries on the evening of the crash. Iran on Monday denied any attempt to cover up the affair.

After the armed forces revealed their responsibility, a rally was held on Saturday evening in tribute to the victims of the crash at Amir Kabir University in Tehran.

The rally turned into a demonstration of anger in which hundreds of students participated, according to Nigeria News journalists who came to cover the vigil.