A video of a march in solidarity with the residents of Gaza, organised by the Welfare Party of Kerala has gone viral on social media.
What is the claim?: The video is being shared to claim that it shows the party's workers waving the Italian national flag instead of the Palestinian flag.
Who shared it?: The claim was shared by Tejinder Singh Bagga, national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) youth wing and the verified X (formerly Twitter) account of France News 24, among others.
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
How did we find out?: We noticed that the people participating in the rally were carrying a banner reading 'Welfare Party Kerala.'
The words 'Welfare Party Kerala' were seen on banners and placards in the video.
(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)
Using this as keywords, we looked for more details about the organisation and came across their verified Facebook page.
This page's profile photo was similar to the flags in the viral video, which showed three vertical red, white, and green stripes with wheat in the middle portion.
The flag resembles the party's symbol.
(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)
On comparing this photo to the Italian national flag, it can be seen that the Welfare Party's flag is similar to the Italian flag, but not the same.
Both flags are similar, but the flag at the rally was of the Welfare Party.
(Source: Facebook/Wikimedia Commons/Altered by The Quint)
They had shared visuals of their support rally on this page on 17 October, which resembled the viral video.
This post mentioned that the party had carried out a rally in support on Palestine on 17 October, at Muthalakkulam ground in Kozhikode, Kerala.
With the help of Google Maps' street view feature, we were able to confirm that the video was taken on the road near Pattala Masjid in Kozhikode.
The rally went past the Pattala Masjid in Kozhikode, Kerala.
(Source: Facebook/Google Maps/Altered by The Quint)
The party's X account also shared a thread of posts clarifying the misinformation regarding the flag at their Gaza solidarity rally.
The party called out misinformation surrounding their rally in these posts.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Conclusion: A video of a pro-Palestine rally by the Welfare Party Kerala is being shared with a false claim that they carried the Italian flag at the rally.
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