Fact Check: UK PM Starmer’s support for Ukraine triggers massive rally in London? Find the truth here
A video claims to show a crowd taking to the streets in London after UK PM Keir Starmer extends his support to Ukraine.
By K Sherly Sharon Published on 6 March 2025 3:37 PM IST
Claim: The video shows the current situation in London after UK PM Keir Starmer announces his support for Ukraine
Fact: The claim is false. The video is from 2021 and is unrelated to Ukraine.
Hyderabad: United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated his support for Ukraine against the country’s war with Russia during a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on March 1.
In this context, a video of a procession showing mostly women wearing burqas, marching on the streets, is going viral with the claim that it shows ‘the current situation in London.’
The video has the caption “Keir Starmer: ‘We will defend Ukraine’s borders at any cost!’”. The street name ‘Oxford Street District’ can be seen in the video.
The video was shared by an Instagram user with the caption, “This is London right now!” (Archive)
It is unclear whether the user is claiming that the crowd took to the streets supporting the prime minister’s statement regarding Ukraine or protesting it.
A post making a similar claim can be found here. (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. This is an old video from 2021, not related to rallies about Ukraine.
Using a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes, we found the viral video on a Facebook account dated September 17, 2021. The video’s caption suggested that the incident in the video is from an ‘Ashura Procession 2021 London.’
Keyword searches led us to a YouTube video titled, ‘Huge crowd marches through London to mark Day of Ashura despite social distancing restrictions.’ The video was uploaded on August 30, 2020.
We found similar videos related to the 2021 Ashura procession in London here and here.
We found a YouTube video that helped narrow down the location and context of the march.
The video was uploaded on August 27, 2021, and titled ‘Final statement of the Husseini Council in London for the month of Muharram 1443 AH 2021.’ (Translated from Arabic) The description of the video read, “The closing statement of the Hussaini Association in London for Ashura this year 1443 AH / 2021 AD.” (Translated from Arabic)
We found the Instagram account of The Hussaini Association, where we found the route map for the demonstration of the Ashura Demonstration Day, uploaded on August 16, 2021.
Using Google Maps, we found the location where the banners from the viral video can be seen on the Street View from June 2021. These banners do not appear in the January 2021 and June 2022 versions of Street View from the exact place.
This confirmed that the viral video was shot in 2021.
A comparison of banners from the viral video and Google Street View images of the place in 2021 can be found below.
