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| - Fact Check: Old video from anti-CAA protests FALSELY shared as Sambhal unrest
While many videos of clashes have emerged from Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal, this 2019 video does not show the violence there.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral clip is neither from Sambhal nor recent. This December 2019 clip from Gorakhpur shows police lathi-charging anti-CAA-NRC protestors.
Protests against a mosque survey in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district turned violent on November 24. At least four people have reportedly been killed so far and dozens have been injured.
On the morning of November 24, a group of court-appointed advocates approached the Shahi Jama Masjid for a survey following a petition that claimed the Mughal-era mosque was constructed after demolishing a temple at the site. This led to local Muslim residents protesting, resulting in clashes with the police.
A video now going viral allegedly shows the Sambhal police lathi-charging protestors.
In the viral clip, a large group of people can be seen being beaten up by policemen in a lane. Many can be seen wearing skull caps. Sharing the video, an X user wrote, “Yogi Ji's Police Back in Form This is the way to deal with these peacefools #SambhalJamaMasjid.” An archive of the post can be seen here.
India Today Fact Check found that the viral clip is neither from Sambhal nor recent. The December 2019 video from Gorakhpur shows the police lathi-charging anti-CAA protestors.
OUR PROBE
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral clip led us to the same video published by a YouTube channel in March 2020, making it clear that it is not from the recent clashes in Sambhal.
WHERE IS THE VIDEO FROM?
In the video, we observed several shops and their names written on the boards. We searched for these names on Google Maps and found that the video is from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, which is more than 650 kilometres from Sambhal. As can be seen in Google Maps, this area is Nakhas Chowk in Gorakhpur. A comparison of a shop seen in the viral clip and Google Maps Street View can be seen below.
Using this clue, we found several news reports that contained the viral clip and other videos of the same incident. According to a December 20, 2019 report in Live Hindustan, Muslims in Gorakhpur were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register for Citizens. Per the report, these protests turned violent in many districts of Uttar Pradesh including Gorakhpur, resulting in police lathi-charging people.
A video report in UPTak from December 2019 featured the same visuals as the viral clip. Live Hindustan reported this incident took place in the Nakhas Chowk of Gorakhpur, the same area we located on Google Maps.
In Sambhal, following the death of at least four people on November 24, the police denied firing live ammunition at protestors. It attributed the deaths to gunfire from country-made pistols allegedly used by protesters.
While many videos of clashes have emerged from Sambhal, it’s clear that this video from 2019 does not show the violence there.
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