Iranian protesters demand Khamenei quits over plane downing

Iranian people gather to show their sympathy to the victims of the crash of the Boeing 737-800 plane, flight PS 752, in Tehran, on Jan. 11, 2020. (WANA via REUTERS)
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  • Videos posted on Twitter showed hundreds of people chanting
  • Protesters demanded stepping down after Ukrainian plane incident

TEHRAN: A group of Iranian protesters demanded Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei step down on Saturday after Tehran said that its military had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 people on board.

“Commander-in-chief (Khamenei) resign, resign,” videos posted on Twitter showed hundreds of people chanting, in front of Tehran’s Amir Kabir university.

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video footage.

Iran announced Saturday that its military “unintentionally” shot down the jetliner, after the government had repeatedly denied Western accusations that it was responsible.

The plane was shot down early Wednesday, hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad.

No one was wounded in the attack on the bases.