Video of Kurdish agitation passed off as pension reform protests against President Macron

A video showing cars turned upside down and some up in flames is doing the rounds on social media.

Users said the video shows the recent protests against French President Emmanuel Macron for pushing through pension reforms.

A Twitter user shared the video and wrote, “Mayhem in #France amid protests against #Macron's pension reform.”

Another Twitter user shared the video and wrote, “Protest against Macron forces King Charles to postpone his visit to France.” (Click here to see the archive of the post.)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video shows a Kurdish Protest in France from December 2022.

On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found four videos including the viral one tweeted by a media outlet, Nexta, on 25 December 2022. As per the caption, the videos show riots in Paris.

On meticulously watching the first video, we noticed protestors with two flags — one with red, white, and green strips with a yellow emblem at the center and the other showing a red star in a yellow circle with a green ring. Taking this as a cue, we searched for the flags and found both are linked to the ethnic group Kurds or Kurdish.

Next, we ran a keyword search and came across a Reuters report of 24 December 2022. It said a clash had broken out between police and Kurdish protestors, who were angry at the killing of three members of their community by a gunman.

It also said cars were overturned, at least one vehicle was burned, and shop windows were damaged near Republic Square in Paris.

From these findings, we conclude that the video dates back to 2022 and does not show recent protests against French President Emmanuel Macron. Hence, the claim is misleading.