A video is doing the rounds on social media with a claim that it shows Sri Lankan ministers being thrashed on the road. It further states that these videos are not being shown in India to avoid a similar situation.
This claim comes on the back of the political and economic crisis in the island nation which have led to violent protests.
However, we found that the men seen in the viral clip are prisoners from Watareka Open Prison Camp who were reportedly attacked by the protesters in Sri Lanka.
The protesters had accused them of attacking other protesters in Colombo's Galle Face area, who had been camping at the site, demanding the resignation of the then prime minister and the president.
CLAIM
The video is being shared with a caption that says, "यह जितने भी नंगे हैं सब विधायक और मिनिस्टर हैं भारत सरकार ने श्रीलंका की हर खबर पर प्रतिबंध लगा रखा है कहीं भारत की पब्लिक भी इनका ऐसा बुरा हाल ना करें देl #SriLankaCrisis #SriLankaProtests"
[Translation: These naked people are the MLAs and ministers. The Indian government has banned every news from Sri Lanka to avoid a similar situation in India.]
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the video into multiple keyframes and ran reverse image searches on some of them on Google.
We found the same video uploaded by a Sri Lankan media outlet Lankadeepa on 10 May 2022 on Facebook.
The video's caption loosely translated to, "It is reported that prisoners have been attacked by the protesters in GotaGoGama."
Archived post can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
We came across many other news report from Sri Lankan media outlests like The Morning, My News Lanka, and Daily Mirror.
These reports stated that people seen in the viral video are prisoners from Watareka Open Prison Camp who were attacked by the protesters on 9 May.
The report also added that the prisoners were taken out by the officials for external constrution work under the relied scheme to aim at producing skilled workers. This group's vehicle was attacked by the protestors on 9 May 2022.
On conducting a keyword search on Google using 'prisoners beaten by Sri Lankan protestors', we came across News Wire's article which was published on 10 May 2022.
The report carried a clarification from the Sri Lanka Department of Prisons which refuted the participation of prisoners in any ongoing anti-government protests in Colombo on 9 May.
News Wire's article carries details about the inmates missing from the prison after the attack by the public.
(Source: Website/Screenshot)
It added the Prisons Department Chandana Ekanayake's media spokesman's quote that said that 181 inmates were transported for rehabilitation work from the Watareka Open Prison Camp.
He also added that the public assaulted and accused the prisoners of attacking the protestors. The agitated public stopped the prisoner's vehicle in the Thalahena area and thrashed them, following which 58 inmates escaped.
Evidently, the viral video shows inmates of Watareka prison being assaulted by the public and does not show Sri Lankan ministers as claimed.
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