Iranian police deny shooting at protesters
Iranian police are denying firing at protesters after video on social media appeared to record gunshots and pools of blood in the streets of Tehran.
Huge crowds demonstrated in the Iranian capital and other cities at the weekend after authorities admitted mistakenly shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board including Iranian citizens.
But on Monday (January 13) the head of Tehran's police said officers, quote, "absolutely did not shoot" and had been given orders to show restraint.
The online footage purports to be recording events near Tehran's Azadi Square. Other posts showed riot police hitting protesters with batons. Reuters could not independently authenticate the videos.
Public fury, rumbling for days after Wednesday's (January 8) plane crash, erupted after the military's mea culpa.
The plane was shot down hours after the Iranian missile strikes on Iraqi military bases housing U.S. coalition troops, the strikes retaliation for the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassam Soleimani - the second most powerful man in Iran.
At the weekend Donald Trump voiced his support for Iranians and told authorities "don't kill your protesters."
On Monday, according to state media, an Iran government spokesman dismissed the U.S President's quote "crocodile tears", saying Iranians would remember he had killed Soleimani and was the reason many were facing economic hardship.
