Fact Check: Protesting Farmers Rehearsing Tractor Rally For January 26 Parade?

A video of a procession featuring decorated tableaus in Germany that was held during Christmas is doing the rounds on social media with false claims that it shows protesting farmers at Delhi borders prepping for Republic Day parade. The video has been overlaid with an instrumental audio track of 'Saare Jahaan Se Achha."

Farmers protesting at the Delhi borders announced to hold a tractor rally on Republic Day if their demands to repeal the contentious farm bills were still not met. Farmer union leaders on January 2, 2021 announced plans to intensify their protests by holding a march into Delhi on January 26 with their tractors, trolleys and other vehicles to continue their protest .

The viral video shows a lit procession of tableaus decorated with colourful lights and props.

The caption viral with the video reads, ''Farmers are preparing in full form for January 26 parade.'' (Original caption in Hindi: ''26 जनवरी परेड की झांकी तेयारी जोरों से चल रही है'')

Archive of such posts can be seen here, here and here.

Viral Video on Facebook claiming that protesting farmers at Delhi borders are practising for Republic Day

The video is also viral on Twitter with a similar narrative. Archive of the tweet can be seen here.

26 जनवरी परेड की #झांकी
तैयारी जोरों से चल रही है 😍👇🏻😍@Iamarfat9 @BhagalSanju @reji_peter @IndiaAwakened_ @karnataka_inc @Devrnder18 @Haraprasad_ @SauravS_13 @abhi_mor1 pic.twitter.com/LCAvvH1WyN
— λνηιδh Jλιη🇮🇳 (@AvnishJainIND) January 17, 2021

Also read: Boris Johnson Cancels India Visit Due To Farmers' Protest? A FactCheck

Fact Check

BOOM broke the video into its key frames and ran a reverse image search on a few frames, and found a longer version of the video on a Facebook page Delta Agribusiness, which was uploaded in December, 2020. The caption of the post reads, ''Christmas Tractor Run. They know how to turn it on in Ireland. Checkout this annual Christmas Tractor Run. #santasleigh #tractor #thispartyislit #10outof10'' In the longer video, spectators can be heard speaking in German.

Upon close observation we found a vehicle used in the rally which had a logo of Burchardt Transporte. The company is a north Germany-based transport firm.

AFP Fact check reached out to Burchardt Transporte manager Jens Burchardt, who confirmed that the video showed a charity event for children's cancer aid in Hamburg-Eppendorf on December 6, 2020."It took place on the day of St Nicholas on December 6. I too drove one of the trucks. We drove from Bargteheide to Hamburg which took about an hour and half," he said.

Additionally, we found a video video posted by by RTNTV News which stated that the video was shot on December 6.

Also read: Old Tractor Stunt Video Shared As Farmers' Practice For Republic Day

Editor's Note: The earlier version of the fact check erroneously stated that the original video is from Ireland. The error is regretted.

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Christmas Procession In Germany Viral As Farmers Rehearsing For R-Day

BOOM found that the video is of a Christmas parade of tractors that is an annual affair in Germany.

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