Amid the global protests over the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, a video of a person setting a policeman on fire is being circulated as a recent incident from London, United Kingdom.
What have users said?: An X premium user shared the video saying, "BREAKING: Anti Israel Anti Semitic Pro terrorrism protestors burn Police officer in London. Violent muslims also say chants ‘Kill All Jews’ ‘We want Sharia Law in England’ ‘Kill All Infidels’. All muslims terrorrists need to be deported from UK. (sic)"
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
Are these claims true?: Neither is the video recent nor is it from London or Italy. The incident dates back to June 2020 and shows a protestor setting a police officer on fire over the death of a man in police custody in Mexico.
What led us to the truth?: At first, we noticed that the uniform of the police officer carried the national flag of Mexico. This indicated towards the possibility of the video being from Mexico.
The uniform of the police officer carried Mexico's flag.
(Source: Wikimedia Commons/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Next, we performed a Google Lens search on the keyframes of the video and came across the same one uploaded on the official YouTube channel of The Telegraph.
The video was uploaded on 5 June 2020 and was titled, "Police officer set on fire during protests in Mexico."
Its description said that a police officer was set on fire during protests over the death of a man named Giovanni Lopez in police custody. The incident took place in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
It further mentioned that Jalisco's Governor, Enrique Alfaro, said that the policeman was injured in the protest along with five other officers.
News reports: A report in Al Jazeera, which carried the same video, said that the protestors has accused the police of beating a construction worker in custody to death.
The report was published on 5 June 2020.
(Source: Al Jazeera/Screenshot)
According to The Guardian, Lopez was arrested by police officers allegedly for not wearing a face mask in public. He was later found dead. This sparked protests in the country's second largest city, Guadalajara.
The report too mentioned about a protestor setting a police officer on fire.
Geolocating the place: We noticed a McDonald's outlet in the background of the video.
A McDonald's outlet can be seen in the background.
(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Taking Guadalajara as reference, we searched for the outlet on Google Maps and were able to locate where the incident took place using the 'street view' option.
On flipping the keyframe from the viral video and comparing it with the street view of the location, we found that the incident did take place in Guadalajara, Mexico.
A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.
(Source: Google Maps/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: It is evident that an old video of a person setting a policeman on fire is being falsely shared as a recent incident from London.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)