Video From Phillipines Peddled As Tribals Looting Shops In Manipur

A video from a secondhand goods store in Philippines is being falsely linked to the violent clashes in Manipur to claim that shops owned by Hindu Meiteis are being looted by tribal groups.

BOOM found that the video is from Lucena City, Philippines and shows a frenzied crowd trying to buy goods from the sale.

In March this year, the Manipur High Court asked the state government to start working towards the inclusion of the Meitei community in the ST list, a decision that faced severe opposition from the tribal groups. The All Tribal Students Union of Manipur called a protest on May 2, which triggered the ongoing violence.

The video shows people trying to enter the store even before its shutter has fully opened, and once inside, everyone is scrambling to get the items they want.

The video on Twitter has the caption, "BJP is a failed govt in Manipur, its responsibility of govt to save property & lives of people? Shame on BJP."

Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.

The clip is also viral on Facebook and has been shared in a compilation video along with other visuals that are claiming to be from Manipur.

Click here to view the post and here for an archive.

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the video is from February 24, 2023 and was taken in a store in Lucena City, Philippines during a sale.

A reverse image search of keyframes from the video on Google led us to a website called Instagrammer News that had embedded a post by VICE Japan which carried the video. The video was uploaded on April 4 and is an exact match of our viral video.

A translation of the Japanese caption explains that enthusiastic shoppers made their way into the store to get their hands on the best items.

"At the end of the month, as soon as Ukay Ukay in Lucena City, #Philippines opened, customers flocked to the store like an avalanche," the caption read.

The incident took place on February 24 in Lucena City. The caption also explained, "Ukay Ukay means 'to dig' or 'to look'. The name comes from the fact that you can search through the mountains of clothes and miscellaneous goods on sale to find what you like and what fits your budget."

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the viral video and the VICE Japan video:

Using this information, we looked for other news reports on the incident and found a video on Facebook uploaded by DZRH News Television on March 3.

We also found a YouTube video by News5Everywhere uploaded on February 27 which reported on the incident.