A video showing an agitated mob running on the streets of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, is viral on social media with a false claim that it shows an attack on the police by Muslim refugees in Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
BOOM spoke to a shop owner from the area in Bareilly, who confirmed that the video shows an incident from Bareilly from February 9, 2024. Supporters of Ittehad-e-Millat Council chief Tauqeer Raza Khan took to streets after his detention by police. According to the shop owner, the incident happened on Shyam Ganj Road area of Bareilly.
On February 8, communal violence broke out over an anti-encroachment operation in Haldwani's Banphoolpura area in Uttarakhand, aimed at demolishing what district officials deemed an 'unauthorized' madrasa and an adjoining mosque. The violence killed two people and injured 100. A shoot-at-sight order has been issued against the rioters by Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami and internet in the area has been suspended by the local authorities. Several unrelated videos have emerged falsely linking them to the Haldwani violence. BOOM has fact checked them here and here. Nainital District Magistrate Vandana said that the violence was pre-planned, with rioters even setting ablaze the Banphoolpura police station without provocation.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Islamist mob of Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees attacked Indian police in Haldwani in Uttarakhand for destroying an illegal mosque! 6 killed and 250 wounded after the Islamist mob of 5000 men armed with petrol bombs attacked workers tearing down the illegal mosque!"
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Another X handle Visegrád 24 also shared the video with the same false claim.
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Fact Check
BOOM first conducted a keyword search on X related to the Haldwani clashes to ascertain the source of the viral video. Through this search, we found a post with the same video, where the caption states that the location is Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.
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Additionally, we noticed that signboards displaying the names 'Sahu Gopi Nath' and 'Babu Band' are visible in the video. Following the lead, we ran a keyword search using the shop names along with Bareilly and were able to geolocate the area.
The location of the area on Google Street View can be seen below.
For further confirmation, we spoke to Anil Kumar Gupta, a local resident who runs a store named Siddharth and Harshit Hardware in Bareilly; the same store can be seen in the viral video.
When asked about the video, Gupta told BOOM, "This video is from February 9 this year. When the chaos started, I was present at my shop. But when people started running breaking the barricades made by the police, we decided to close our shop. The mob went to hear the speech organised by Tauqeer Raza Khan."
We also found news reports related to the incident. A report published by ABP News on February 9, 2024, states, "Tensions escalated in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Friday, as thousands of supporters of Ittehad-e-Millat Council chief Tauqeer Raza Khan took to streets after his detention by police. Khan was taken into custody after issuing a 'jail bharo' call in response to developments surrounding the Gyanvapi case."
Bareilly Police, from its official X handle, shared a press release and a video regarding the incident. According to the police, there were clashes between two groups while returning from the event of Maulana Tauqeer's speech. Later, Police brought the situation under control and investigation is on regarding the miscreants who started the clashes.
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