A nearly three-year-old clip showing protests and counter-protests against the decision to close a prayer hall in the Paris suburb of Clichy is being revived and shared after a French teacher who was decapitated on October 16, 2020, for showing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed to his class.
The viral clip shows Muslim worshippers who are observing prayers on one side and on the other side counter-protestors holding the banner 'STOP AUX PRIÈRES DE RUE ILLÉGALES!' (Stop illegal street prayers) and singing the French national anthem La Marseillaise.
The clip is being shared in the backdrop of Samuel Paty, a teacher who was decapitated outside his school by Abdullakh Anzorov of Chechen origin, who settled in France. As part of a discussion on free speech Paty had shown the class images of Prophet Mohammed alongside caricatures and cartoons on different topics.
The 45 seconds clip is being shared with the caption, "In Paris, as Muslims pray on roads, blocking streets, they are met with equally loud singing of the French National Anthem by French citizens."
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BOOM has previously fact-checked Fatah for sharing misinformation in the past.
Madhu Purnima Kishwar had also tweeted the viral clip. BOOM has also earlier fact-checked Kishwar for sharing misinformation.
Click here to view, and here for an archive
Viral on Facebook
On searching with the same caption on Facebook, we found that the clip is being shared with the misleading claim.
Also Read: No, This Image Is Not Of The Teacher Who Was Beheaded In Paris
FACT-CHECK
On breaking the video into key-frames and performing a reverse image search using Yandex, we found news reports from November 2017. The reports stated that the incident is from the suburb of Clichy in Paris where local right-wing mayor Remi Muzeau led a march towards around 200 Muslim worshippers who were observing their Friday prayer outside in protest against the town's decision to close a prayer hall.
A line of riot police separate the two groups and at one one point tensions appear ready to boil over reported The Local France on the incident on November 11, 2017.
One can see the banner in this AP report on the incident 'STOP AUX PRIÈRES DE RUE ILLÉGALES' (Stop illegal street prayers) at 2.10 minutes timestamp and the same visuals of worshipers praying on the street in protest and counter-protestors singing the French national anthem.
The people praying can be seen as in the viral clip in the video report at the 2.15 minutes timestamp with the same outfits which shows that the viral clip is from the 2017 incident.
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation after the killing of the French teacher in Paris as an image of a group welcoming refugees in Kent, United Kingdom was being shared falsely claiming that it showed Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was decapitated on October 16, 2020.
Also Read: Cropped Screenshot Of The Wire Article On Durga Puja Is Misleading
