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| - Fact Check: Looting in Manipur stores? This video has nothing to do with ongoing violence in the state
Several viral posts on social media claimed that people were looting shops amid the violent protests in Manipur. However, the clips shared are old videos from a goods store in the Philippines.
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India Today Fact Check
This video has been on the internet since as early as February. According to media reports, it shows a thrift store in Lucena City, Philippines.
Violence broke out in Manipur on May 3 after the Naga and Kuki tribes organised a Tribal Solidarity March against the move to give Scheduled Tribe status to the majority Metei community. Reportedly, protesters vandalised and set ablaze hundreds of houses, churches, temples, and vehicles during the violence. As armed forces were rushed into the state, the Manipur DGP said that protestors looted arms and ammunition from 23 sensitive police stations in the Imphal Valley and other districts.
However, some viral posts on social media claimed that people were also looting shops amid the violent protests in Manipur. The Aam Aadmi Party’s person in charge for North Eastern states, Rajesh Sharma, tweeted a video of a group of men thronging inside what appears like a clothing store and racing to loot the wares. “BJP is a failed govt in Manipur, its responsibility of govt to save property & lives of people? Shame on BJP,” wrote Sharma.
The archived version of his post can be seen here.
India Today's investigation found that the video is old and has been on the internet since as early as February this year. According to media reports, it’s from the Philippines.
Our Probe
With the help of a reverse image search, we found the same video was shared by Yahoo News on March 1. Per this report, the video was from a secondhand goods store in Lucena City in the Philippines. Reportedly, a crowd poured into the shop during a special sale on February 24.
A search on YouTube with relevant keywords led to the same video uploaded by Vice News on March 3. Per this report, the video was from a kind of thrift store in Lucena City.
According to Vice News, the shop announced new arrivals on February 24, and following this, a large number of people camped outside the shop even before its doors opened. The report also quoted the owner of the shop, Mildred Garcia Bundialan, who said that though she was used to customers’ excitement whenever new arrivals were announced, the wildly excited crowd who appeared outside her store on February 24 surprised her.
The video was also shared by media organisations from the Philippines with the same description. Some of these organisations credited the video to a Facebook account called Mildred Ukay Suki. This account shared the same video on February 24.
In Mildred’s post as well, the location of the video mentioned was Lucena City.
According to her Facebook bio, Mildred is the owner of a store called Ukay Suki. She also posted similar videos of frenzied customers at the same shop on more than one occasion.
It is hence clear that the video in question is old and likely from the Philippines, though we could not independently verify that. It is not related to the ongoing violence in Manipur.
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