An old video showing fireworks exploding in a crowd of people is being falsely shared with the claim that it shows pro-Palestine protesters trying to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.
BOOM found that the video is from May 28, 2023, and shows a fireworks mishap during celebrations in Türkiye following Tayyip Erdogan’s reelection as president.
Following a massive explosion on a hospital in Gaza that claimed over 600 lives, Istanbul police reportedly thwarted an attempt by pro-Palestinian protesters to storm the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul. The post is being shared in this backdrop.
X (formerly Twitter) user MeghUpdates, shared the video with the caption, "Hamas supporters in Turkey wanted to attack Isreal consultate in Istanbul with fireworks but ..... enjoy."
Click here to view an archive of the above tweet.
The video has also been shared on Facebook with the same caption, which can be viewed here.
Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search of some keyframes of the viral video, which led us to an Instagram post from May 28, 2023, containing the exact same footage.
The caption shared with the post read, "Citizens celebrated after almost all the ballot boxes were opened in the second round of presidential elections, but careless created dangerous moments."
Taking cue from the Instagram post, we performed a keyword search with "firework explosion election" in English, and in Turkish (havai fişek patlama seçim), which led us to a number of news articles on the incident, reported by Turkish media outlets.
According to reports by Hürriyet, and En Son Haber, the video shows a celebration in Turkish city of Fatih following the results of the presidential elections on May 28, 2023, which saw the reelection of Tayyip Erdogan as president. During the celebrations, a civilian is seen lighting up fireworks in his hand, which he then accidentally drops, causing panic among the crowd as the fireworks explode.
Reuters also published the same video with a title that further confirms that the video was taking during the Turkish election.
"Fireworks exploded in the hands of a Turkish civilian who - along with thousands of others - was attending a celebration for president Tayyip Erdogan’s reelection on Sunday (May 28) night," Reuters reported on the video.