Große Demonstration: „Lang lebe der Schah“ – Tausende demonstrieren in Frankfurt

Around 20,000 Iranians demonstrated in Frankfurt for an open and free society in their homeland and against the mullah government in Tehran. They honored opposition politician Reza Pahlavi, who had previously received the Freedom Award of the FDP-affiliated Friedrich-Naumann Foundation in the Paulskirche. According to police, about 9,000 people marched peacefully through the city center.

A subsequent large demonstration at Ostpark gathered roughly 20,000 supporters of Pahlavi's son, significantly fewer than the 30,000 people who had registered. The gatherings proceeded largely peacefully and without major incidents until the afternoon. One man was arrested near the Constable's House, with police mentioning a hint on a livestream where he had announced crimes.

Only a few people attended an anti-Pahlavi demonstration. Police reported around 20 participants who gathered near Roßmarkt. Demonstrators celebrated Pahlavi's 66th birthday with "Long live the Shah" chants. Many participants carried the former Iranian national flag with a lion from the era of the Shah. Others displayed pictures of Pahlavi with the inscription "Shah."

One demonstration participant said: "We hope for a free Iran." After Pahlavi's speech, mostly in Persian, the first demonstrators left the venue, and those present shouted "Thank you, police." Pahlavi, a son of the deposed Shah from 1979, lived in exile in the USA and presented himself as a transitional leader if the ruling government in Tehran were to fall.

He is also criticized for the monarchist past of Iran under his authoritarian father. Pahlavi announced that he would eventually hand over an award to the Iranian people in Tehran, not on foreign soil. The mostly Iranian audience in the Paulskirche repeatedly interrupted the ceremony with shouts: "Long live the Shah, long live Iran!"

FDP Member of the European Parliament Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann emphasized that Pahlavi had always said the Iranian people decide their own future. Not everyone agreed with the award to the Shah's son, stating "one always knows when they are on the right track."