Fact Check: 2019 video of Algerian protest in Paris falsely linked to recent French riots
The video is from 2019 and shows an Algerian protest against then president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s fifth presidential bid.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 6 July 2023 10:24 AM GMT
Screengrab of the tweet by @MajorPoonia
Hyderabad: A video showing people gathered on the Place de la République in Paris and waving flags is going viral on social media. Users have shared the video, linking it with the recent riots in France that started in June.
Major Surendra Poonia shared the video with the caption, “This is Republic Square, Paris. Refugees crushed French Society France has SURRENDERED…”
He used the hashtag #FranceHasFallen in the caption, suggesting that the video shows how the recent riots have culminated in an upheaval of the French government.
(Courtesy: Twitter/@MajorPoonia)
Fact Check
NewsMeter, in its investigation, found that the video is from 2019 and shows an Algerian protest against then president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s fifth presidential bid.
The Algerian flags in the video gave us the cue that the footage could not be recent. We extracted keyframes of the video and performed a reverse image search, which led us to a video showing similar visuals tweeted by the journalist Selina Sykes on March 10, 2029.
In the caption, she said that Algerians and French Algerians living in France were protesting Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term as president. She also mentioned the location of the protest as Place de la République in Paris.
We also found an image similar to the visuals from the viral video published by the photo stock website Dreams Time, with the caption, “Demonstrators waving Algerian flags occupy the Place de la République in Paris to protest against ailing Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid a fifth term.”
(Courtesy: Dreams Time)
We could also determine the date of the protest accurately. A France24 report from March 3, 2019, which carried videos and images showing similar visuals, said a crowd of all age groups of Algerians born in France and across the Mediterranean gathered in the heart of the French capital on the Place de la République in Paris. The report too confirmed they were protesting Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office.
(Courtesy: France24)
Hence, we conclude that an old video of an Algerian protest in Paris is being shared without the full context to mislead the people.
