As protests swept Iran after its downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane last week, demonstrators pointedly walked around the U.S. and Israeli flags painted at the entranceway to Shahid Beheshti University campus, refusing to trample them.
The move was an apparent show of defiance against Iran’s government, reported BBC News, as the flags are put there on purpose to encourage pedestrians to disrespect them by treading on them.
“The flags were painted on the ground so that those walking along the route would thereby insult both countries — which Iran considers staunch enemies,” BBC News said.
Video showed students avoiding the flags, then deriding those who walked over them, according to the nongovernmental organization UN Watch.
Protests have raked the country since Iran’s military acknowledged mistakenly shooting down a civilian Ukrainian after days of denial. All 176 people aboard were killed in the crash out of Tehran airport last Wednesday.
At first Iran vehemently denied shooting down the plane, which crashed soon after the Middle Eastern country shot retaliatory missiles at U.S. military facilities after President Trump’s assassination of Iran’s top military official.
In all, 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, including nine crew members, and citizens of Afghanistan, Germany, Sweden and the U.K. died in the crash.
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