These images are not of protests against COVID-19 vaccine trials in different parts of the world. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 8, 2020
A social media post with a few images of protests allegedly from London, Berlin and other places is being widely circulated with the claim that these protests are being held against the COVID-19 vaccine trails. Also, the post warns Indians against these vaccine trials. Through this article lets fact-check the claim made in the post.
Images of protests against COVID-19 vaccine trails from London, Berlin and other places
Fact: Images of protests against lockdown restrictions in UK & Germany and also an image of protest against the result of Presidential election in Belarus are being falsely shared as images of protests against COVID-19 vaccine trials in different parts of the world. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Image 1 (Berlin):
Reverse image search of this photo led us to a news article in which the same image is featured. According to the news article, the image was clicked during a protest near Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on 01 August 2020. The protest was held against the government restrictions amid corona pandemic. In the article, it is nowhere mentioned that the protests were held against the COVID-19 vaccine trials. News reports covering this protest can be seen here.
Image 2 (London):
Reverse image search of the photo led us to a stock image which closely resemblance with that of in the post. We can find similar building and flags in both the images. According to the description, the image was clicked on 16 August 2020 during a protest which is held in Minsk, Belarus against the results of the latest Presidential election.
Taking a cue from here, we searched on google with the keyword ‘Belarus Protests’ and found a news article which carried a similar image (different angle). According to the news article, the image was clicked during a protest in Minsk against the result of the Presidential election.
Image 3 (Germany):
Google search with the key words ‘Hamburg Protests’ led us to a news video which had visuals similar to those of the image in the post. The description below the video reads ‘Demonstration against the government and anti-corona measures in Hamburg’. The protest was live-streamed on 15 August 2020.
Image 4 (Germany):
Search on YouTube with the keywords ‘Freedom Gathering’ led us to a video which was uploaded on 18 August 2020. According to the description below the video, the gathering took place in Birmingham, UK. In this particular video, the speaker talks about the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions but not about the corona vaccine experimental trials.
Taking a cue from here, we searched on google with the keyword ‘Freedom Gathering’ and found news articles which reported this gathering. Also, according to these articles, these people are anti-mask protesters who gathered in Birmingham to rally against the government’s corona virus lockdown restrictions. These news articles can be read here and here.
Image 5 (Germany):
We could find the original source of this image.
To sum it up, images of protests against lockdown restrictions in UK, Germany and also an image of protest against the result of Presidential election in Belarus are being falsely shared as images of protests against COVID-19 vaccine trials.