A video showing 'before and after' clips of a number of luxury cars set on fire is going viral on social media with a claim that it shows the cars that belong to former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's son.
This comes amid the ongoing political and economic crisis in the country following which Rajapaksa stepped down from his post. People in the island nation have been protesting against rising prices and fuel shortage due to the economic collapse.
There has been damage to public and private properties, including Rajapaksa's family residence in the city of Kurunegala.
However, these cars do not belong to the former PM's son. They are owned by Avenra Garden Hotel's owner, Sachith De Silva.
CLAIM
The video is going viral on social media with a caption that says, "Sri Lanka PM Rajapaksa's sons had Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mclaren etc. See what happened to them yesterday."
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On conducting a keyword search using 'Luxury cars burnt in Sri Lanka protests', we came across a tweet by Daily Mirror, which shared four pictures of charred cars and wrote that it was from "Avenra Garden in Negombo". The tweet was from 10 May.
Another tweet by the daily carried a video of a Lamborghini, which was set ablaze. The location mentioned was of the same hotel.
The visuals were similar to the ones used in the viral clip.
We found similar information on other Sri Lankan media outlets like News Wire, News Cutter, and The Talks Today.
DID THE CARS BELONG TO RAJAPAKSA'S SON?
We searched for 'Avenra Garden Hotel's collection of luxury cars' and came across a YouTube video by one 'Super Cars' posted on 16 June 2020.
The description mentions that these cars are owned by hotel's owner, Sachith De Silva.
On comparing the viral video with this video, we noticed the same cars.
Same car was seen in the two videos.
(Source: The Quint)
The car can be seen in the same place in both the videos.
(Source: The Quint)
We also found the pictures of the cars on the Facebook and Instagram handles of Sachith De Silva. These pictures can also be seen on the Facebook page of the hotel.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SRI LANKA?
The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has led to a near-collapse of healthcare services, increase in prices, shortage of supplies due to which cost of living has become unaffordable.
The newly-appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that the country will print more currency to tackle the situation, reported CNN.
He has also proposed to privatise Sri Lanka's airline to keep the economy afloat.
The protesters have said that they will keep up their campaign as long as Gotabaya Rajapaksa stays the president of the country.
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