A video showing a huge crowd walking down a street, while a person speaks over a loudspeaker is being widely shared across social media, with users claiming that it shows Muslims in Kerala protesting against the recent wave of communal violence in Tripura.
Some users also claimed that it showed people protesting against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
However, we found that the clip dates back to January 2020 and shows a massive protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Mannarkkad, Kerala.
Chants of "down down CAA" and "down down RSS" can be heard, along with slogans of 'Azaadi', a chant that was widely used in nationwide protests against CAA and NRC.
CLAIM
The video has gone viral across social media platforms with text in Hindi and English, which claim that the video shows "Kerala Muslims protesting against Tripura Violence".
An archived version of this post can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We observed the video and found that the person audible over the loudspeaker was speaking in Malayalam. In the video, the person speaks about how the people "were born on this soil and will die on this soil".
Under one of the posts, we came across a comment by a Facebook user, who noted that the video was old and showed a protest against the Central government and was related to CAA and NRC.
User Talha Abdulbar said that the video was old.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
Using this as a clue, we used relevant keywords on social media platforms and came across an Instagram post dated 5 January 2020. The caption said that the video showed an anti-CAA and NRC protest in Mannarkkad, Kerala and credited the video to one 'pknishab'.
We came across a longer and a clearer version of the video uploaded by the person credited, dated 3 January 2020.
In this 13-minute video, chants of "down down CAA" and "down down RSS" can be heard, along with slogans of 'Azaadi', a chant that was widely used in nationwide protests against CAA and NRC.
GEOLOCATING THE VIDEO
The video also shows the word 'Choice' on top of a building in the background, which also has a purple logo.
Looking up the name with the location , we came across a photograph of a shop named 'Choice Wedding Castle' in Mannarkkad on Google Maps.
The two buildings also have a common red strip on one side.
(Source: Facebook/Google Maps/Altered by The Quint)
The full yellow board visible in the video bears the name '9th floorings'. As per Google Maps, the shop is next to Choice Wedding Castle in Mannarkkad.
The Instagram video reveals that the yellow board in the viral video reads '9th Floorings'.
(Source: Instagram/Altered by The Quint)
Evidently, a video of a 2020 anti-CAA protest in Kerala's Mannarkkad was widely shared by social media users, who incorrectly claimed that it showed Kerala Muslims protesting against violence in Tripura.
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