1 year ago
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A video of a group of climate activists being dragged away by commuters in Paris, France is circulating on social media with false communal claims that Muslims were forcefully removed for offering namaz on roads.
BOOM found that the claim is false. The video shows environmental activists protesting against depleting natural energy and being dragged away from the road by angry passers-by and commuters in Paris.
In the viral video, people in orange safety jackets can be seen sitting in the middle of a road causing a long queue of vehicles. Later few people forcefully start dragging them away to clear the traffic that had come to a standstill because of the protests.
Right-leaning author Madhu Purnima Kishwar tweeted the video with the caption , "France. People are getting down from their cars& clearing roads occupied by the Namazis. Govts in all democracies are cowardly coz they're held hostage by vote banks. Citizen action alone can save us from lethal spread of MuzzBees."
Click here to view the tweet.
Kishwar later deleted her tweet after being called out by several twitter users for spreading false information. BOOM had earlier fact checked Kishwar several times for spreading misinformation.
The video is also being widely circulated on Facebook with a similar false claim.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the same video was uploaded on Sky News Arabia's official YouTube channel on December 1, 2022, with a caption stating it is from France where pedestrians can be seen removing environmental activists from the road.
Taking a cue from the information, we ran a related keyword search and found a Daily Express article from December 2, 2022, reporting about the incident.
The report states, "Furious Parisian drivers brutally dragged climate activists off the road on the Levallois bridge in Levallois-Perret, Paris. The protesters had brought traffic to a standstill, prompting the ire of the drivers. The driver was quickly joined by other commuters who took the matter into their own hands."
It further adds, "The climate activists have been identified as members of The French activist group 'Dernière Rénovation' (Last Renovation), which is calling on Emmanuel Macron's Government to isolate buildings amid the soaring energy bills propelled by Vladimir Putin's energy war on Europe."
