Fact Check: Candlelight vigil in Bangladesh falsely linked to Kolkata protest over doctor’s murder
The video shows a drone view of a large candlelight protest at night.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 6 Sep 2024 5:56 PM GMT
Claim: The video shows a candlelight protest in Kolkata following the doctor’s murder at the RG Kar Hospital.
Fact: The claim is false. The video is from Dhaka, Bangladesh, regarding the anti-quota protests.
Hyderabad: Recently, the brutal rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata has caused widespread outrage, leading to protests across the country.
A Threads user posted the video with the caption, “History has been created! The people of entire Kolkata took to the streets today. It is impossible to stop this movement until Tilottama gets justice #RGKarProtest.” The 1:02-minute video showed a drone view of a large candlelight protest at night.
Similar videos can be seen here and here. (Archive),(Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video is from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
A reverse image search of the video led us to the same video shared by an X account on August 9, 2024. The caption said, “Candlelight vigil and national anthem ceremony today at uttara friend’s club as the whole community came together to remember the martyrs.”
The assault and murder of the trainee doctor occurred on August 9. The student protests in Bangladesh started on June 5 and continued into August, culminating in a military takeover of the government on August 5.
We searched for ‘uttara friend’s club’ online which led us to a Facebook event page titled, ‘A Candle March For Quota Martyrs.’
The location of the event was marked as Uttara Friends Club Field, Sector 3, Uttara, Dhaka. The event date was set for August 9, 2024, at 5 pm.
Your Presence Matters. Stand in Solidarity. P.S. Please bring candles to light up the night in their honor. #RememberTheMartyrs #QuotaMovement #PrayForThem"
The event page showed that 740 people responded to the invite.
As per the event page, the gathering was organized by Afif Mahmud, Mahmudul Hasan and Sheikh Fahid. A photo from the event, which appears similar to the viral video, was uploaded by Fahid on April 10. Fahid's caption for the photo reads "In Honor of the Martyrs of the Quota Movement. 9th August 2024 Uttara Friends Club"
Additionally, a keyword search led us to an image from the event posted by the Instagram page of The Business Standard dated August 9, 2024. The caption to the photo reads, ‘Around 1,500 people have joined a candlelight vigil on the Friends Club field in Uttara Sector-3 to remember those killed during the recent student movement.’ The image showed a huge crowd gathered with candles.
We also found the extended version of the same video posted on Instagram with the caption ‘candlelight vigil Uttara’ dated August 9, 2024.
Hence, the claim is false. The viral video is from Bangladesh and has no connection to the Kolkata protests following the RG Kar hospital murder.
