Fact Check: No, this is not a video of anti-vaccine protest in Greece
A video of an aerial view of a huge crowd reportedly at the recent anti-vaccination protests in Greece is going viral on social media.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 27 July 2021 3:55 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of an aerial view of a huge crowd reportedly at the recent anti-vaccination protests in Greece is going viral on social media.
The caption for the video reads, "#Greece Anti Youth Waxxination Rally. An aerial view, I'd say from these images, the People have had a gutful (sic)."
Fact Check
The claim is false.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found the video on YouTube. It was uploaded on 21 January 2019. The title reads, "Video III – Rally for Macedonia. Syntagma Square (the central square of Athens, Greece), 20/01/2019."
Using this hint, NewsMeter searched online and found news reports by The Guardian and Greek City Times that said up to 100,000 Greeks converged on Athens "to demonstrate against a landmark deal that will see Macedonia, the country's northern neighbour, change its name". Macedonian organizations planned a rally against the Prespa Agreement in Athens on 20 January 2019 at Syntagma Square. The rally was against the agreement to rename Macedonia.
According to Euractiv, "Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters outside parliament on Sunday (20 January) as tens of thousands of Greeks rallied in Athens to protest ahead of a parliamentary vote to ratify a name deal with Macedonia due this week."
A similar photo of the protest was also published in a Greek news article. The headline of the article translates to, "The big rally for Macedonia in 20 photos." The excerpt from the article translates to, "Citizens from all corners of Greece responded to the call of the Macedonian unions and associations against the Prespa Agreement … At noon, Syntagma Square and the surrounding streets were suffocatingly full and the atmosphere was shaken by slogans that gave the message of the citizens against the voting of the Agreement, which was submitted to the Parliament on Saturday."
The viral video was taken during the protest against the agreement to rename Macedonia in 2019. It is not linked to the recent anti-vaccine protests in Greece. Hence, the claim is false.
