Old Video From Nigeria Passed Off As Alleged Attack On Bihari Migrant Workers In Tamil Nadu

In February, a video showing a person abusing and assaulting Hindi-speaking migrant labourers went viral across social media. The Government Railway Police traced the accused, Magimaidas, 38, of Villupuram, and arrested him.

Nowadays, fake videos are being spread targeting people of Tamil Nadu and to spread fear among Bihar's migrant labourers who are working in the southern state saying migrant labourers are being killed. As per a Times of India report, Tamil Nadu police booked five people for reportedly spreading false information regarding rumors of attacks on migrant workers in the state.

On March 5, 2023, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin also issued a statement that no harm would come to migrant workers. Stalin had reportedly spoken to Nitish Kumar... and assured him that no harm would come to these "brothers on development."

Claim 1:

Several videos are viral on social media, claiming to show the state of migrant workers from Bihar who have been allegedly attacked in Tamil Nadu over linguistic divisions. One such video is doing rounds on the internet in which the public can be seen running in the middle of the road where some arson is visible, due to which a lot of smoke is also rising. The video is viral, claiming that it is from Tamil Nadu and shows Tamils thrashing the Bihari workers. In the video, a Hindi text is mentioned, which reads, "बिहारियों को मारा जा रहा है" (Biharis are being killed).

An instagram user shared the video and captioned it in Hindi which reads, "तमिलनाडु के लोग बिहारियों को मार रहे हैं और हत्या भी कर रहे हैं (Tamil citizens are killing Biharis and also murdering them.) The user shared the video on March 4, which has garnered around 17k views with around 1k likes.

[Trigger Warning: The Logical Indian Fact Check team is not embedding the video due to its graphic nature.]

Claim 2:

A screenshot purportedly of 'Dainik Jagran' newspaper is viral on social media claiming Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has given an ultimatum to migrants from Hindi-speaking states to leave Tamil Nadu by March 20; otherwise, they will be killed.

Fact Check:

Video:

The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the claim and found it to be false as the viral video is from Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state in Nigeria.

We began our investigation by extracting different keyframes from the video and conducting a reverse image search. It led us to Tik Tok, a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The video was shared by a user named deybest12, with the location being Abeoukuta.

Later, we conducted a keyword search using relevant keywords on Facebook and found the same video on the verified page of Sahara Reporters. It shared the 13 seconds long clip on February 7, 2023, with a title that reads, "WATCH: Flames As Protest Rocks Ogun State's Capital City, Abeokuta Over Naira Scarcity #NairaScarcity." The title and the comments suggest that the video is from Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state in Nigeria, where the protest took place over a shortage of the local currency called the Naira.

Further, we searched on Facebook and found several videos from Nigeria uploaded on the same day concerning the same protest. Various verified Nigerian accounts shared the clip with the same narration.

An account called 'Within Nigeria' shared an extended version of the video and captioned, "Naira Scarcity: First Bank branch, other properties vandalised as protest rocks Abeokuta, Ogun State".

According to The Guardian, recently, the Nigerian government announced demonetisation, following which there were long queues of people to exchange the naira notes with the new ones. However, they were unable to make withdrawals to meet their basic necessities, and the situation triggered many homes to go into hunger strikes and protests, leading to violent demonstrations across the nation.

Conclusion:

Since the Nigerian protests went on for several days, it isn't easy to ascertain the exact date of the video. Nonetheless, it is clear that the viral video is not from Tamil Nadu and has nothing to do with the alleged attack on migrant workers from Bihar over linguistic divisions.

Newspaper clip:

During the initial investigation, we observed the logo ko Dainik Jagran in the top left corner. Taking a hint from it, we tried to search for the viral claim on the website of 'Dainik Jagran'. However, we could not find any such news. We then observed a watermark of 'News Banner Maker' in the middle of the post. We then searched for it and found that its an editing software tool that is available on Play Store. This software allows users to design any kind of news clip or banner.

It is to be noted that UP CM Yogi Adityanath did not issue any statement in which he appealed to Hindi-speaking migrant laborers to return to their respective states. We did not find any report which can corroborate the viral claim.

On searching more, we also found a statement issued by Vishwas news, fact-checking wing of Dainik Jagran, in which they refuted the viral claim. In the statement issued by the newspaper, they said, "The logo of Dainik Jagran is being misused. No such news has been published in Jagran."

Conclusion:

Our investigation shows that viral newspaper clip is edited and made using an editing software tool. Dainik Jagran also issued a statement and refuted the viral claim.

Tamil Nadu officials refuted the viral claims.

We also came across a video by the Tamil Nadu police published on March 2, 2023. In this video, the police noted that these incidents happened in the past, in Tiruppur and in Coimbatore, and were not related to attacks on migrant workers. As per the Director General of Police, the clip from Tiruppur is connected to a clash between two groups of Bihari migrant workers. Another clip from Coimbatore shows a clash between local Tamil people.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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