Fact Check: Video showing a huge crowd marching on a street makes a false claim, while it is a rally by football fans
France’s President Emmanuel Macron declared full solidarity with Israel. He also suggested that the international coalition needs to be brought together to fight ISIL and should be broadened to include the fight against the Palestinian group Hamas.
Football Fans in Brazil
France’s President Emmanuel Macron declared full solidarity with Israel. He also suggested that the international coalition needs to be brought together to fight ISIL and should be broadened to include the fight against the Palestinian group Hamas. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations had been banned in France when French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin sent out a message stating the ban citing concerns about public order.
Meanwhile, a video showing a huge crowd marching on a street is in circulation with the claim that it shows a massive pro-Palestinian rally that took place in France. The video shows lakhs of people marching on the streets with flashlights all around.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video is not from France and does not show a pro-Palestinian rally in France.
When we searched in Google using the keywords “pro-Palestinian rally in France”, we found a video shared by AFP news agency with the title “Pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris despite ban | AFP”, with the description ‘Demonstrations of support and solidarity for Palestinians take place in France's capital, at the Place du Châtelet, despite a ban. Police officers have been deployed to contain the protests.’ The video shows thousands of participants but not millions of participants seen in the viral video.
When we performed a Google reverse image search using the key frames extracted from the video, we found that the video was from Sao Paulo, Brazil. We found a post on X (Twitter) by a handle ‘Planeta do Futebol’ with a caption “O caminho da torcida do Palmeiras ao Allianz Parque. @marcelarafael”
When translated, it states “The path of Palmeiras fans to Allianz Parque @marcelarafael”
When checking the bio of the handle ‘Marcela Rafael’, we found that she is an ESPN presenter. When an X user shared the viral video as a pro-Palestinian protest, Marcela Rafael replied to the post stating that it was not true and that the video was hers. And it shows Palmeiras fans before a match against Boca Jrs in Libertadores.
An article published by Estadao.com.br published on October 5, 2023 shares the screenshots from the viral video. The article states
Before Palmeiras and Boca Juniors ' decision, the Brazilian team's fans showed all their confidence and support for Abel Ferreira's squad. It's worth a place in the Libertadores final. On the way of the Football Academy delegation to Allianz Parque, thousands of fans accompanied the bus, singing and encouraging the squad. Green clouds dominated the scene. The bus took more than 1 hour to travel the two-kilometer distance. It was perhaps the biggest demonstration by the fans.
Hence, the viral video shows a rally by football fans in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The claim that the video shows a pro-Palestinian rally in France is False.