Protesters in Tehran have burned a cardboard effigy portraying Rob Macaire, the UK ambassador to the country who recently managed to evoke the ire of the Iranian authorities.
According to Sky News, this development comes as Macaire got branded as an “undesirable element” by the Iranian judiciary.
The burning evoked a largely negative reaction online as social media users have apparently taken a dim view of it.
Some netizens also mocked the apparently low attendance at the gathering where the effigy was immolated.
However, there were also those who reserved their criticism for the ambassador himself.
Last week, Macaire was detained by Iranian authorities for several hours after allegedly attending an unauthorised protest in Tehran which was held in response to the country's admission that Revolutionary Guards air defence troops had accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner.
While the British Foreign Office branded this detention as a “flagrant violation of international law”, an IRIB news agency reported that the ambassador departed Tehran Tuesday night by plane via the Qatari capital of Doha.