Iranian artists, athletes, and media personalities have lent their voices to anti-government protests in the country over the accidental downing of a passenger plane that killed 176 people. Among them have been actors vowing to boycott a film festival, a star volleyball player who said he saw "no light in the future", and a former state TV presenter who apologized "for 13 years of lying" to her viewers. The latest demonstrations broke out after the armed forces admitted they had accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet on January 8 amid high tensions with arch-foe the United States. The acknowledgement, after days of denial by the government, was met with an outpouring of grief over the loss of life and anger at the breach of trust, with demonstrators calling their rulers "liars". They were soon joined by a string of high-profile figures from the worlds of arts, sports, and media. A slew of actors and others withdrew from Aprils Fajr International Film festival, which is held each year to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Over three million people within days watched a clip posted by one actor, Navid Mohammadzadeh, which also garnered plaudits from other Iranian stars. The short take from his 2018 film "Sheeple" touches on a tough choice many dissidents face: stay and push for change despite the risks, or leave and join Irans chronic brain drain. "Now you see that I havent left this wreck of a place," Mohammadzadehs character tells his abusive father in the short video. "I have stayed and will blacken your life. I stayed to get my rights." - Desperate and sad - One high-profile flight from the country drew headlines around the time of the protests. On January 11, taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh, Irans only female Olympic medallist, announced she had permanently left Iran, citing the "hypocrisy" of a system she claimed humiliates athletes while using them for political ends. "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran with whom they have been playing for years," the 21-year-old wrote on Instagram. Iranian parliamentarian Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh demanded answers, accusing "incompetent officials" of allowing Irans "human capital to flee" the country. Another star athlete, national volleyball captain Said Marouf, posted a message on January 12 that was somber in tone despite the fact the team had just earned a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. "Today, in our desperate and sad mood, we cant celebrate this victory and achievement of a dream that we have worked toward for years," he said. "Our despair and sadness are not only because our fellow citizens are mourning, but because we see no light in the future." - Solidarity and solace - For days after the aircraft tragedy, state media toed the line that a mechanical failure had caused it to crash. So the admission that a missile operator had fired at the Ukraine International Airlines plane mistaking it for an American cruise missile sent ripples through the media arena. In a rare move, state-run TV acknowledged that "anti-regime" protests were being held, only months after Novembers much larger nationwide protests were bloodily put down amid a near-total internet blackout. Several state television employees announced on social media that they were quitting, and former state TV lifestyle show presenter Gelare Jabbari went a step further. "Forgive me for 13 years of lying to you on Iran television," she wrote on Instagram, only to delete the post later after it had spread widely and then asking that her comments not be "misused" by anyone. Another state TV personality, Zahra Khatami Rad, also quit on Instagram, vowing to "never work in television again". She won praise and gained more than 50,000 likes, but also revealed in a later post some of the many insults she had received in response.