A protest for the families of the victims of Flight 752 was held in Toronto, Canada.

A number of Iranians living in Canada, along with friends and families of the victims of Flight 752, held a protest rally and march in Toronto on Thursday.

This rally and protest march was held at the invitation of the Association of Families of the Victims of Flight 752 to demand justice for the perpetrators of the downing of the Ukrainian plane.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was hit by IRGC air defense missiles moments after taking off from the runway of Imam Khomeini Airport near Tehran on the morning of January 8, 2019, killing all 176 passengers, some of whom were Canadian citizens.

Iran says “human error” was the cause of the incident, but the governments of Canada and Ukraine have repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of covering up the incident and have demanded full information. Some of the victims’ families have also said that the Revolutionary Guard Corps “deliberately” targeted the plane, a claim the Islamic Republic has denied.

Video footage has emerged of a long line of protesters marching through the streets of Toronto, holding pictures of the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash. The march continued from Queen's Park to Nathan Phillips Square.

Hamed Esmailiyon, spokesman for the Association of Families of Flight 752 Victims, strongly criticized the presence of the European Union representative at Ebrahim Raisi's inauguration ceremony in his speech at the protest rally.

Hamed Esmailiyon lost his wife Parisa and daughter Rira in the Ukrainian plane crash.

The spokesperson for the Flight 752 Victims' Families Association continued his speech by saying, "Today, the question is what is the representative of the European Union doing at a banquet of darkness and madness? What proportion does kissing the hands of the emperor of fear and murder have to gestures of defending human rights?"

Hamed Esmailiyon clarified: "Today, to maintain security at the inauguration ceremony, they suspended flights over Tehran, but in wartime conditions, the lives of innocent people were of no value."

Coinciding with the inauguration of President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday, a ban on airplanes flying over Tehran was implemented.

This comes while the Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down by the IRGC's air defenses hours after Iran's missile attack on the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq, where American forces were stationed.

Source: Radio Farda