A video on social media is widely shared on social media (here, here, and here) claiming that a Muslim procession in Park Circus, Kolkata celebrated Islamic rule and the massacre of Hindus in Bangladesh. Let’s verify the claim through this article.
Claim: Huge procession of Muslims at Park Circus in Kolkata celebrating the Massacre of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Fact: This video is from June 2023, and shows a Jamaat-e-Islami rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, held after a decade with verbal approval from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). The rally’s demands included freedom for imprisoned members, including party chief Shafiqur Rahman, and measures to control inflation and essential goods prices. The video has no connection to Kolkata.Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to social media posts from June 2023 (here and here), matching the visuals in the video. These posts describe a Jamaat-e-Islami march in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
A detailed review of the video indicates it was recorded under a flyover with three pillars. By comparing this with Google Street View, we found the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway location. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the location from the viral video and Google Maps.
The transformer and the multi-story building both match the ones seen in the viral video. The comparison is shown below.
Based on keyword research, reports (here, here, and here) reveal that Jamaat-e-Islami, a political party in Bangladesh, held a rally in Dhaka in June 2023 after a decade, following verbal approval from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). The party’s registration was revoked in 2013, and its last rally was in February of that year. The 2023 rally’s demands included freedom for imprisoned members, including party chief Shafiqur Rahman, and measures to control inflation and essential goods prices.
To sum up, the viral video is actually of the 2023 Jamaat procession in Dhaka, Bangladesh, not from Park Circus, Kolkata.
