Fact Check: Old video of church fire falsely linked to riots in France

A video showing Church in flames is circulating on social media. Users are linking it to the recent riots in France.

A Twitter user shared the video with the caption, “A cathedral which stood bombardments during both world wars and was standing tall since several hundred years until yesterday was burnt down by peaceful community of illegal immigrants who came to #France seeking asylum and now doing all loot, arson, and jihad. #FranceOnFire.”

Protests have swept across France following the death of a teenager as a result of the excessive use of force by the police on June 27. As per reports, the teenager, Nahel (17), was a resident of Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris, was shot dead by the French police for allegedly not having a driver’s license.

Fact Check

NewsMeter investigation found that the video is from France and is at least three years old. It has nothing to do with the recent riots in France.

We fragmented the video in keyframe and conducted a reverse image search, which led to a report by Sky News dated July 19, 2020. It carried an extended version of the same video.

As per the report, the fire at Nantes’ 15th-century Gothic cathedral had shattered stained glass windows and sent black smoke spewing between its towers. It mentioned that French officials treated the incident as a criminal act and had launched an arson inquiry.

Independent also reported the incident on July 18, 2022, in a report titled “Nantes Cathedral fire: Arson investigation after blaze at 15th-century French church.”

It said the fire had broken out inside the cathedral behind the grand organ, which was completely destroyed. The blaze was brought under control by firefighters after several hours.

A Le Monde report under the title “French court jails man who set fire to Nantes cathedral,” dated March 30, 2023, said a French court sentenced 4-year-jail to Emmanuel Abayisenga, a 42-year-old Rwandan, for starting a fire that severely damaged a Gothic cathedral in the city of Nantes in 2020.

It also mentioned that in a separate case, Abayisenga is accused of allegedly killing a priest in western France in 2021.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video dates back to 2020 and is being falsely linked to recent riots in France.