Fact Check: Video from Australia protest shared as US protestors chasing PM Modi
A video reportedly showing American protestors chasing down Mr. Modi’s convoy went viral on social media.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 3 Oct 2021 9:41 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently went on a three-day official visit to the United States. Following this, a video reportedly showing American protestors chasing down Mr. Modi's convoy went viral on social media.
Click here, here, here, and here to see the posts.
Fact Check:
The claim that the video shows angry US protesters chasing Mr. Modi is false.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found that the same video was shared by a Twitter user on 21 September. It should be noted that Mr. Modi left for the US on 22 September, confirming that the viral video is not connected to his recent visit. According to the tweet, the video is from Melbourne, Australia.
Taking this as a cue, we searched for reports on recent Melbourne protests and found a similar video in a report by ABC News. It said over 2,000 protesters marched on the street chanting anti-vaccination slogans. The chaos was a result of the government decision to shut down construction centres for two weeks amid concerns about non-compliance of COVID-19 rules.
Reuters reported that Melbourne police fired pepper balls and rubber pellets to disperse about 2,000 protesters. "It was the second day of demonstrations in the locked-down Australian city after authorities shut construction sites for two weeks, saying workers' frequent movement was spreading the coronavirus. During eight hours of downtown protests, demonstrators threw rocks, bottles and flares at police, as television and social media showed video of marchers chanting and attacking police cars, surrounded by mounted police and officers in riot gear," it said.
Using Google Maps we were able to verify that the location of the viral video was Exhibition Street in Melbourne's Victoria.
Clearly, the claim that the viral video shows angry US protesters chasing PM Modi is false.
