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| - Fact Check: Green-and-red illumination of Niagara Falls has no Bangladesh connect
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the Niagara Falls was illuminated in green and red for Christmas.
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India Today Fact Check
Niagara Falls in Canada was illuminated in green and red for Christmas. Bangladesh Victory Day is marked on December 16. The calendar for Niagara’s illumination schedule does not even mention Bangladesh Victory Day on its website.
December 16 is celebrated as ‘Victory Day’ in Bangladesh, for it was on this day in 1971 that Bangladeshi forces defeated the Pakistani military. Though it’s a special day for Bangladesh, many on social media have claimed that this time, the Niagara Falls in Canada was also lit up to commemorate the event.
Many Facebook users posted a picture of a falls illuminated in green and red, the colours on Bangladesh flag, and wrote, “Niagara Falls in Canada lit up in honour of Bangladesh’s Victory Day.”
However, India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the Niagara Falls was illuminated in green and red for Christmas. The calendar for the illumination schedule of Niagara Falls does not even mention Bangladesh’s Victory Day on its website.
AFWA PROBE
Niagara Falls are waterfalls on the Niagara river. The falls lie on the border between Ontario, Canada, and New York, United States. The famous Horseshoe Falls is situated in Ontario, Canada.
The website “Niagara Parks” has every detail about the Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. Every evening, the falls are illuminated with special lights. They are also lit in custom colours for short durations to mark significant dates in support of charitable causes.
Since the claim is about Canada, we looked into the illumination schedule of the falls mentioned on the above website. The calendar provides every detail about the illumination the event, date and time for one year from December 2021 to November 2022.
Bangladesh Victory Day is not mentioned anywhere in the calendar. It does not find mention on any of its social media platforms either.
We also looked into the Facebook page of the High Commission of Canada to Bangladesh. It has congratulated Bangladesh on its Victory Day, but there was no mention of a Niagara illumination.
We have not found a single credible news report where any information about Niagara being lit up for Bangladesh Victory Day is mentioned.
HOW IT SPREAD
We traced the social media post to the Twitter handle of a Bangladeshi politician named Mahjabeen Khaled. Posting the viral picture on December 5, 2021, she’d written, “Niagara Falls on the weekend”.
Niagara Falls on the weekend pic.twitter.com/ieZ7wLzSps — Mahjabeen khaled (@mahjabeenkhaled) December 5, 2021
A day later, a Twitter handle called “The Bangladesh Defence Analyst” posted the image with the caption, “Niagra Falls in Canada lit up in honour of Bangladesh’s Victory Day over the weekend. #DEFSECA #Bangladesh50 @CanHCBangladesh”.
But another Facebook user posted the same image on December 16 and refuted in Bengali the viral claim of Niagara Falls being illuminated on Bangladesh Victory Day. He claimed that these are Christmas lights which are traditionally green and red in colour and can be seen on Niagara and many other iconic places in Europe and America a couple weeks ahead of Christmas.
Stock photos of multiple-colour illuminations of Niagara Falls during the winter can be seen here.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the viral image showing Niagara Falls illuminated in green and red has no connection to Bangladesh Victory Day. It is traditional illumination before Christmas.
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