Protests against Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards spread to dozens of Iranian cities for the second day
Protests against the role of the Revolutionary Guard Corps in the downing of a passenger plane and the cover-up by the Islamic Republic of Iran authorities spread to more than twenty cities on Sunday for the second day.
According to photos and videos sent to VOA, as well as reports published in other Persian-language media outlets, protest rallies were held in cities such as Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Gorgan, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Rasht, Qazvin, Kerman, Semnan, Damghan, Yazd, Shahrood, Amol, and Babol on Sunday.
The main slogans are against the Leader of the Islamic Republic and the IRGC and call for the trial and resignation of Iranian regime officials.
The New York Times reported on Sunday night: In Tehran, a large crowd thwarted efforts by authorities to prevent a gathering in Azadi Square. Security forces later fired tear gas to disperse them. According to the New York Times, eyewitnesses at Azadi Square told the American newspaper's correspondent that security forces' confrontation with protesters there turned violent after Basij and Special Guard forces fired rubber bullets.
In these rallies, people chanted these slogans: "We didn't kill to compromise, we praised the murderous leader," "The tank cannon is a firecracker, the mullah must disappear," "The Supreme Leader, resign, resign," "Basij, be ashamed, leave the country," "They killed our elites and replaced them with mullahs," "We don't want an Islamic Republic, we don't want one," "The 1,500 people killed in Aban are ours," "Death to the dictator," and "The incompetent IRGC is responsible for the murder of the nation."
On Wednesday morning, January 8, a Ukrainian Boeing 737 crashed near the new city of Parand in Tehran province, minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport for Kiev, with 176 people on board. The incident came just hours after Iran launched a missile attack on US forces in Iraq, which IRGC officials said was in retaliation for the US killing of Qassem Soleimani. At the time, the Associated Press reported that Ukraine had considered a missile attack or terrorism as possible theories for the crash, despite Iranian denials.
On Friday, January 10, after several days of denial, the Islamic Republic of Iran finally announced, under international pressure, that the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane, which killed 176 people, was due to "human error" and was caused by an "unintentional" missile fired by the Revolutionary Guards.
A day earlier, US President Donald Trump had called the Ukrainian plane crash in Iran a "tragedy" on Thursday, January 9, and said: "I have my doubts too. It's a very painful thing. There have been doubts about this crash. Maybe someone made a mistake there."
People protesting the Islamic Republic's cover-up began protesting on Friday in several locations, including in front of Amir Kabir University and Sharif University, chanting slogans against the Leader of the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and other officials.
Following these protests, President Trump and US officials warned the Iranian regime and called for it not to suppress the protesters.
Source: Voice of America
