Tolerance of Iranian regime gives comfort to every bully, says shah’s son
Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the deposed shah, was speaking at the Munich Security Conference.
Some 200,000 people demonstrated on Saturday against Iran’s government on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders in Munich, police said, answering a call from Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for cranked-up international pressure on Tehran.
Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the large and boisterous demonstration in Munich was part of what Prince Reza Pahlavi described as a “global day of action” to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests. Pahlavi also called for rallies 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 organisers had expected.
“Change, change, regime change” chanted the crowd of many thousands of people, 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.
Some demonstrators sported “Make Iran Great Again” red caps, mimicking the MAGA caps worn by US President Donald Trump’s supporters. Many waved placards showing Prince Reza Pahlavi, some that called him a king.
Iranian leaders are already under intense scrutiny, facing renewed threats of US military action from President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump wants Iran to further scale back its nuclear programme. He suggested on Friday that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen”.
Iran was also the focus of protests in Munich on Friday, the opening day of an annual security conference in the city gathering European leaders and global security figures.
Supporters of the Iranian opposition group, People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, demonstrated against Iran’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests last month.
Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed shah who abandoned his throne and fled the country in 1979, has been in exile for nearly 50 years but is trying to position himself as a player in Iran’s future.
At a news conference in Munich on Saturday, Prince Reza Pahlavi warned of the likelihood of more deaths in Iran if “democracies stand by and watch”.
“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 Iranian government’s continued survival “sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power”.
About 500 protesters also rallied outside the presidential palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, with many holding up banners with slogans against Iran’s government and in favour of the prince.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,005 people have been killed in the protest, including 214 government forces.
It has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.
Iran’s government offered its only death toll on January 21, saying 3,117 people were killed.
Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.
