Old photo of a protest against French cartoons is falsely linked to PM Modi’s visit to Bangladesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 25, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of a massive protest in Bangladesh against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh. This photo shows hundreds of Muslims marching in a rally. In the wake of PM Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Bangladesh on 26 March 2021, this post is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a massive protest in Bangladesh opposing the PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is an old one. In October 2020, thousands of Muslims marched in Dhaka protesting the French cartoons on Prophet Mohammed. This photo is related to that protest and has nothing to do with PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published on 27 October 2020.  This article mentioned the picture to be of a massive protest held in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. This protest was held against the French Cartoons on Prophet Mohammed. Reporting the same, ‘The Irish Times’ shared the same photo in a galley article published on 27 October 2020. This article reported that thousands of demonstrators marched in a rally towards the French Embassy in Dhaka, protesting the French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on Prophet Mohammed cartoons.
Sharing a similar photo, ‘BBC’ News published an article about this protest held in Dhaka city of  Bangladesh. In the article, it is mentioned that thousands of Muslims participated in a protest rally demanding the complete boycott of French products in Bangladesh. This rally was held in protest against the French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement on not giving up the Prophet Mohammed cartoons published in Charlie Hebdo magazine.
To sum it up, 2020 photo of Bangladesh Muslims protest against French cartoons is shared as the protest against PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh.