A post (archived) with a video of protests is being widely shared with the claim that the video is of recent protests in France. Another post (archived) with another protest video is also being shared on social media with the same claim. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Videos of recent protests in France.
Fact: Video of a police vehicle being attacked is actually from Italy where protesters vandalized a police vehicle. The other video is on the internet at least since January 2020 and evidence suggests this video is of a demonstration observed in Hamburg, Germany against the oppression of Uighurs in China. It is clear that these videos have nothing to do with recent protests in France. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video in the post led us to a YouTube video which carried similar visuals. This video is uploaded on YouTube on 13 January 2020 and the description of the video reads ‘The German city of Hamburg yesterday’. From the date of upload, we can say that the video is old and not related to the recent protests in France.
Further Google search with relevant keywords led us to a few images on ‘Getty Images’ website. According to the description provided beside these images, it can be inferred that these images are of a demonstration organized in Hamburg, Germany on 11 January 2020 against the oppression of Uighurs in China. In the video on social media and these images, we can see similar background locations. Also, by the date of upload of these images on the website, we can confirm that these images are not of recent protests in France.
Reverse image search of the screen shots of the video led us to a news video on YouTube which was uploaded on 24 October 2020. The description of the video reads ‘Police Cars Attacked During Protest in Italy’.
Taking a cue from the video, Google search with relevant keywords led us to a news article dated 23 October 2020 which carried a similar video as well as other images of a protest. According to the article, the video is of a protest demonstration in Naples, Italy against the imposition of curfew to curb the spread of coronavirus. With all this, we conclude that the video in the post is not of recent protests in France.
In the wake of the outrage raised by Muslim countries against the statements by French President Emmanuel Macron regarding Islam, posts similar to the one in the post are being widely circulated across social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, these videos have nothing to do with recent protests in France.
