About 2,50,000 people demonstrated 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 cranked up international pressure on Tehran. Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the giant and boisterous rally in Munichon on Saturday was part of what Pahlavi described as a "global day of action" to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests.

He also called for demonstrations in Los Angeles and Toronto. Police said in a post on X that the number of protesters reached some 2,50,000, more than the organisers 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.