Iranian protesters demand Khamenei's resignation after military shootdown of plane

A group of Iranian protesters has demanded Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei step down after Tehran said its military mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 people on board. "Commander-in-chief [Khamenei] resign, resign," hundreds of people chanting in front of Tehran's Amir Kabir University on Saturday. With protests spreading, Iranian security forces reportedly began using teargas, live ammunition and water cannons to disperse the crowds.

The Amir Kabir University, in downtown Tehran, saw hundreds of students gathered early in the evening to pay respects to those killed in the air disaster. The students chanted slogans denouncing "liars" and demanded the resignation and prosecution of those responsible for downing the plane and allegedly covering up the accidental action. "Death to liars," they chanted.

According to yet-to-be-verified footages on social media, the protests have also spread to other places, including Sharif University and Tehran University, as well as on the streets of Tehran.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump warned Iran against cracking down on protesters. "The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people," Trump tweeted.

"There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching," Trump said in apparent allusion to an Iranian crackdown on street protests that broke out in November, which left more than 300 dead, according to estimates by Amnesty International. 

Reportedly, vigils that were held near Amir Kabir University quickly turned into anti-government protests with people calling for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to leave the country. 

Iran said on Saturday that the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 was "unintentionally" shot down on Wednesday shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport. Tehran had termed it a "disastrous mistake". Victims of Wednesday’s crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals.

Fars, a news agency close to conservatives, said the students chanted "destructive" and "radical" slogans. The news agency said some of the students tore down a poster of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed on January 3 in a US drone strike on Baghdad.

Fars published pictures of demonstrators gathered around a ring of candles during the tribute.

It said that police "dispersed" them as they left the university and blocked the streets, causing a traffic jam.

Iran's acknowledgement on Saturday that the plane had been shot down in error came after officials had for days categorically denied Western claims that it had been struck by a missile.

The aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards accepted full responsibility.

But Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said the missile operator acted independently, shooting down the Boeing 737 after mistaking it for a "cruise missile".

(With agency inputs)