Video of Anti-Modi Protest in Bangladesh Shared As ‘Muslims in WB’
The video was shot at Hathazari, a rural town in Bangladesh on 28 March amid protests against PM Modi’s visit.
A video of protests in Bangladesh in light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country is being shared with the false claim that it shows the hooliganism of Muslims in West Bengal.
The video shows a crowd of men armed with sticks stopping an army convoy, including an ambulance, while shouting slogans. The video was shot at Hathazari, a rural town in Bangladesh on 28 March amid protests against PM Modi’s visit.
CLAIM
The video was widely shared with the caption, “पश्चिम बंगाल में मुसलमानों की गुंडागर्दी देखिए सरकार,पुलिस, फौज सबको इनसे जान बचानी मुश्किल है।”
(Translation: “See the hooliganism of Muslims in West Bengal, it is difficult even for the government, police and army to save their lives from them.”)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We noticed that the number plate on the vehicle was written in Bangla.
Further, the red logo with the two crossed swords on the ambulance and the army men’s uniform indicates that they belong to the Bangladesh army.
The logo on the sleeve of the shirt can be either green or red, as seen in the representative images below.
Next, we fragmented the video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search on one of the frames. This directed us to a longer version of the video uploaded by user HM Al Amin as a Facebook Live on 28 March, with the caption, “হাটহাজারী সড়কে সেনাবাহিনী” (Translation: “Army at Hathazari Road”).
We noticed that one of the boards in the video read, “আল হেরা তাহফিজুল কুরআন ইসলামি একাডেমী” (Translation: “Al Hera Tahfizul Quran Islamic Academy”).
The board is visible at the 2:53 mark in the viral video and at around 4:33 in the Facebook Live.
According to the Academy’s Facebook page, it’s located at Rangamati Road in Isapur, Fayzia Bazar in Chittagong’s Hathazari.
We looked up the street view of Isapur Fayzia Bazar on Google Maps, which dates back to 2015, and found another building similar to the one in the viral video.
WHAT HAPPENED IN HATHAZARI?
According to several news reports, violence had broken out in Chittagong’s Hathazari amid protests against PM Modi’s visit.
According to the Bangladesh’s Dhaka Tribune, the Madrasa students in Hathazari blocked the Chittagong-Khagrachhari Highway during their demonstrations, blocking traffic movement. The traffic resumed in the area on Sunday, 28 March night after three days of violent clashes between the protesters and the police.
Bangladeshi daily, Prothom Alo also reported that the Hathazari madrasa students had barricaded the roads and atleast four people were killed amid clashes with the police.
Evidently, a video from protests in Bangladesh has been falsely shared as ‘Muslims in West Bengal.’
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