Fact Check: Video of Switzerland violence passed off as communal riots in Kolkata
A video of rioters vandalizing cars on a road is going viral on social media. Users claim it is a video of communal riots in Kolkata.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 29 March 2022 4:03 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of rioters vandalizing cars on a road is going viral on social media. Users claim it is a video of communal riots in Kolkata.
It shows a riotous mob wearing hoodies and white protective suits heading towards cars as the vehicles try to escape the violent attack that follows.
"It is being said that the video is from Kolkata. The situation in Bengal is exactly like Pakistan, and those who are breaking the windows of vehicles, are heretics. No one even knows that Hindus have become a minority in 8 states in 70 years. Now you have to think otherwise .........?????????" reads the English translation of the message in Hindi
Original Text in Hindi: वीडियो कलकत्ता का बताया जा रहा है बंगाल में हालात एकदम पाकिस्तान जैसे बने हुए हैं, और ये जो गाड़ियों के शीशे तोड़ रहे हैं वो विधर्मी हैं। 70वर्षो में हिन्दू 8 राज्यों में अल्पसंख्यक हो गये किसी को पता भी नहीं चला, अब सोचना पड़ेगा नहीं तो.........?????????
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Fact Check:
The claim is False.
NewsMeter broke the video into several keyframes and performed relevant keyword search to find out details about the video. The search led us to a report published on the website `20 Min' on May 22, 2018, carrying the same video.
According to the German report, there was a mass brawl involving around 90 hooligans present not far from the St. Jakob Stadium on late Saturday evening. Around 30 people from Basel, who were wearing white protective suits and were painting bridge pillars on the Autobahn on Birsstrasse, were attacked after 11 p.m. by a mob of around 60 people.
Some people in the black jeep present on the north of the stadium also tried to get the driver out of the car, but he managed to turn around and escape. The video of the mob lynching went viral online.
We also found that several German local news websites had covered the incident. According to reports, the violent clashes took place on May 19, 2018, after a championship match between Basel and Lucerne football clubs near a stadium in Birstrasse, Basel, Switzerland.
The reports stated that local police arrested 14 people in connection with the clash. About 90 people could be involved in this incident. The police were also looking for eyewitnesses who shot the incident on their phones.
Taking a cue from this, we searched on YouTube and found several videos which show the same scenes. The title of the video uploaded on the YouTube channel `Hooligans TV' on May 21, 2018, is, "Fight in Switzerland: Basel vs. Zürich & Karlsruhe. 19.05.2018".
The videos of May 2018 incident can be seen here and here on YouTube.
Hence, the claim is false.
