Equal signs in code blocks get rendered with extra characters

[jsbryaniv]

I am writing a blog post with some simple code snippets. For example, like this

n_classes = 3
model = DirichletClustering(n_classes)
variables, samples = model.train(data_train)

When they get rendered in the html it looks like this
n_classes ~|=| 3
model ~|=| DirichletClustering(n_classes)
variables, samples ~|=| model.train(data_train)

Evidently the extra characters around the equal sign "~|=|" show up in. the raw HTML when it renders. For example this is what I see when I inspect

<div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="n">n_classes</span> <span class="o">~|=|</span> <span class="mi">3</span>
<span class="n">model</span> <span class="o">~|=|</span> <span class="n">DirichletClustering</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">n_classes</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">variables</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">samples</span> <span class="o">~|=|</span> <span class="n">model</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="n">train</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">data_train</span><span class="p">)</span>
</code></pre></div>

It appears to be that there is some sort of parsing going on that adds these characters around the equal sign before it is sent to the HTML.

I dont know where that would be taking place or why it is necessary.