A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Buddha’s followers are protesting on the streets as they were being prevented to follow their religious practices. This is being shared as a recent protest. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent photo of Buddhist monks protesting on the streets.
Fact: The photo is not a recent one, it’s from 2007. The photo is from a protest by Buddhist monks who were marching in Yangon on 24 September 2007, against the military rule in Myanmar. In early 2021, there were few protests by Buddhist monks in Myanmar against the army coup, but the photo is not related to these recent protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, the same photo was found in an article. The article published on 26 September 2007 is about the Buddhist monks in Burma/ Myanmar who were protesting the then-military rule in Myanmar. The photo is of Buddhist monks marching in Yangon on 24 September 2007. According to news reports, what started as a protest against increasing prices slowly developed into a wider movement against military rule.
Buddhist monks in Myanmar came out in large numbers to protest the military rule in 2007. This was part of a series of economic and political protests which were then widely called the Saffron Revolution. Indian Buddhist monks also protested then as there were atrocities committed against the Buddhists in Myanmar, by the military rulers. There were also a few protests by Buddhist monks in Myanmar against the army coup, in early 2021.
To sum it up, a 2007 photo of Buddhist monks protesting military rule in Myanmar is shared as recent.
