Some 200,000 people demonstrated Saturday against Iran's government on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders in Germany, police said, answering a call from Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for increased international pressure on Tehran. Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the giant and boisterous rally in Munich was part of what Pahlavi described as a "global day of action" to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests, the AP reports. He also called for demonstrations in Los Angeles and Toronto. The police estimate of 200,000 protesters in Munich was reported by German news agency dpa and was higher than organizers had expected.
"Change, change, regime change!" the huge crowd chanted, waving green-white-and-red flags with lion and sun emblems. Iran used that flag before its 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi dynasty. At a news conference, Pahlavi warned of more deaths in Iran if "democracies stand by and watch" following Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters last month. "We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?" he asked. He added that the survival of Iran's government "sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power.
At the Munich rally, demonstrators wore "Make Iran Great Again" red caps and waved placards showing Pahlavi, some that called him a king. The son of Iran's deposed shah has been in exile for nearly 50 years but is trying to position himself as a leader in Iran's future. The crowd chanted "Pahlavi for Iran," and "democracy for Iran" as drums and cymbals sounded. "We have huge hopes and (are) looking forward that the regime is going to change hopefully," said Daniyal Mohtashamian, a demonstrator who traveled from Switzerland to speak for protesters inside Iran who faced repression. "There is an internet blackout and their voices are not going outside of Iran," he said.
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