A video showing people assaulting police personnel with sticks is going viral on social media. In the video, people can be seen carrying Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flags.
What is the claim?: It is being shared with the a claim in Marathi, which reads "पोलिसांना झोडपून काढणारे कुणी काश्मिरी अतिरेकी नाहीत बर हे आहेत भाजपचे हिंदू कार्यकर्ते,हेच आहे का, भाजपाचं हिंदुत्व.. हि हिटलरशाहीची सुरूवात तर नव्हे.."
[Translation: The people thrashing the police in this video are not Kashmiri extremists, they are BJP's Hindu workers. Is this BJP's Hindutva? Is this the rise of Hitlerism?]
The claim comes days after reports of violence emerged from West Bengal ahead of the panchayat elections in the state on 8 July.
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
What is the truth?: The video is old and not related to the recent violence in the state.
It dates back to 13 September 2022 and shows Kolkata's Assistant Commissioner Debjit Chatterjee being thrashed during a BJP protest campaign called the 'Nabanno Chalo Abhiyan' against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.
How did we find out?: We noticed the BJP's flag and signboards with text in Bengali in the viral video.
The video shows Bengali signboards.
(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)
Taking a cue from this, we used relevant keywords to look for news reports related to the video.
This led us to a Hindustan Times report dated 14 September 2022, which mentioned that protesters attacked the assistant commissioner of Kolkata Police during the BJP's 'Nabanna Chalo' campaign against the state's TMC government.
We found a HT report from September 2022.
(Source: Hindustan Times/Altered by The Quint)
The Quint had also reported on BJP West Bengal's 'Nabanno Chalo' campaign in September 2022, and this photo story carries an image that matches a frame for the viral video.
Both visuals show the same incident.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
The Quint's then correspondent for West Bengal had shared the same video during the violence, mentioning that it shows Kolkata Police's Assistant Commissioner being hurt in the city's Burrabazar area during the campaign.
BJP's 'Nabanno Chalo Abhiyan': The BJP in West Bengal had started a 'Nabanno Chalo' (march to the secretariat) protest against the state's government after allegations of corruption came up against several TMC leaders.
The protest – which took place primarily in Kolkata and Howrah ended in chaos with around 139 arrests and left 53 police personnel injured.
The video shows Kolkata's Assistant Commissioner Debjit Chatterjee being thrashed.
Conclusion: The video of people thrashing police personnel in West Bengal dates back to September 2022 and is not a recent one related to the violence surrounding Panchayat polls in the state.
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