Protests and condemnation after Iran admits downing Ukrainian plane

Flowers and candles are placed in front of the portraits of the flight crew members of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed in Iran, at a memorial at the Boryspil International airport outside Kiev, Ukraine January 11, 2020. [Reuters]

Iran’s admission that it shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 aboard, has provoked international outrage and triggered growing protests against Iranian authorities in Tehran and other cities including one in which Britain’s ambassador was detained.

In what President Hassan Rouhani called a “disastrous mistake”, Iran said on Saturday that a missile fired in error on Wednesday by its air defenses while on alert after Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq brought down the plane. Iran had denied for days after the crash that it had shot down the airliner.