In light of the BBC documentary on Narendra Modi & 2002 Gujarat riots, a social post accompanying a video of a massive crowd gathering is being shared as a protest in front of the BBC office in London against their controversial documentary. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of people protesting in front of BBC office in London, against their documentary.
Fact: These visuals are related to anti-vax protests carried outside the BBC headquarters in London, earlier this month. News agencies have reported these protests. Live streamed footage of this protest is available on YouTube. While it is true that Indian diaspora has protested outside BBC against the controversial documentary on PM Modi, the viral visuals are not related to these protests. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
It is true that the Indian diaspora staged protests at the BBC headquarters in London, against their controversial documentary on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Protesters demanded an apology from BBC for showing Modi in a bad light. Multiple news agencies have reported these protests, a few of which can be viewed here & here.
However, the visuals shared in the viral post are not related to these protests. These visuals actually show recent anti-vaxxers protest carried outside the BBC headquarters in London. Upon careful observation of the viral video, we can spot a watermark, which reads ‘ORACLE FILMS’. Taking a cue from this, an internet search with relevant keywords led us to a Twitter handle with the name ‘ORACLE FILMS’. This account, along with a few other visuals, shared the exact same viral video on 23 January 2023. According to these tweets, the visuals show protests by anti-vaxxers (COVID-19) ‘in recognition of the vaccine injured and bereaved’.
Further, Conservative Party MP Andrew Bridgen also participated in these protests and spoke out for the victims of the vaccines. A few more visuals from these protests can be viewed here & here. The protest was live-streamed on YouTube. Footage of it can be seen here. Further search yielded news reports about the anti-vax protests outside the BBC (here & here). One such report by The Independent reported these protests on 21 January 2023. The visuals shared in this report show the same location as in the viral video.
All these establish the fact that the viral visuals are from recently held anti-vax protests outside the BBC office in London and are not related to the BBC’s controversial documentary on Modi.
To sum it up, visuals related to anti-vax protests outside BBC office are passed off linking them to the documentary on Modi.
