The Logical Indian Crew

Fact Check: Old Photograph From Bangladesh Shared As Recent Bengaluru Violence

Writer: Aditi Chattopadhyay

Aditi, part of the fact checking team of The Logical Indian likes to read, write, cook and laugh, in short live life as it is supposed to be. What makes her fascinated is to discover the truth behind a story and more often than not, it is either fact or myth at the end.

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Karnataka, 14 Aug 2020 1:45 PM GMT

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The Logical Indian Fact check team investigates the claim that photograph showing a crowd carrying sticks is a visual from the recent violence in Bengaluru.

At least three people died after police opened fire at angry mobs who attacked a Congress MLA's residence and local politician in Bengaluru after a communal social media post insulting Prophet Muhammad, shared allegedly by the leader's relative, sparked outrage. Police also took to lathi-charge and tear gas to disperse the violent crowd.

Following this, a photograph showing a crowd carrying sticks was being circulated on social media platforms with the claim that this was a visual from the recent violence in Bengaluru on the night of August 11-12, 2020.

"For a Facebook post, two police stations, buses, cars and houses were burnt peacefully. Around 60 policemen including a ACP were injured in a peacefull riot. The dare huye musalman of bangalore burnt the MLA House as their life is in danger in India. Police said they fired 200 bullets in air. And this irked the muslims a lot, as they thought the police try to shoot their Allah instead of shooting the person who made the Facebook post," reads a part of the caption of the post.

Claim:

Photograph showing a crowd carrying sticks is a visual from the recent violence in Bengaluru.

Fact Check:

The claim is false.

A reverse image search was done which led to a tweet by Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, on October 2019. She mentions that the photo is from Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh! pic.twitter.com/HtXFNZOTJN
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) October 25, 2019

Therefore the photo is definitely not recent and is unrelated to the Bengaluru violence that occurred earlier this week.

A keyword search based on this information led to a video dating back to 2013. The title reads, "RAW FOOTAGE - Muslims March in Dhaka, Bangladesh".

Photos by Getty Images which resembled the scene seen in the viral photo were also found. The photo is credited to AFP. The caption says that the scene showed Islamists marching in the street in Dhaka during a protest in Dhaka on 5 May, 2013.

"Hundreds of thousands of hardline Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law blocked major highways cutting off the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka from the rest of the country, police said," reads the caption.

A report on the incident by Al Jazeera said that the protests had turned into violent clashes. A group called Hefazat-e-Islam was the one protesting.

Further, a similar picture was found on the official website of Alamy.

The caption also mentioned that "people thronged to join a Hefajat-e Islam rally at Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge near Postagola, Dhaka, Bangladesh".

Below is a comparison of the viral photo (right) and the Alamy stock photo (left):