A set of photographs which show police brutality against protesters is being shared with the claim that these are from the recent protests against unemployment in Uttar Pradesh.
Indian Express reported on 18 September that students and youths had organised protests across Uttar Pradesh on the issue of increasing unemployment. In Lucknow, the police lathi-charged on the protesters that included youths belonging to Samajwadi Party, Congress’s students wing NSUI, as well as AAP.
As part of ‘Berozgari Diwas’ (unemployment day) protests, in some places, youths fried pakodas, burnt their copies of degrees and polished shoes.
Last week, on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 70th birthday, Twitter users trended a hashtag highlighting unemployment and the economic crisis the country is facing. Various individuals and political parties simultaneously launched a social media campaign and the day was soon called ‘National Unemployment Day’ on social media.
Hashtags ‘#17Sept17Hrs17Minutes’, ‘#राष्ट्रीयबेरोजगारदिवस’ trended since morning on the social media platform. Reportedly these hashtags were a part of the protest campaign against the government’s failure to tackle the ongoing economic crisis along with a surging unemployment rate.
Hashtag #NationalUnemploymentDay had over 4.18 million tweets, while, #राष्ट्रीय_बेरोजगारी_दिवस over 1.68 million tweets.
‘You voted for religion and temple, if you ask for jobs now you’ll get (beaten with) sticks #Regret (Translated to English),’ reads the caption of one such post.
तुमने वोट धर्म और मंदिर के लिए दिया था अब नौकरी मांगोगे तो डंडे ही मिलेंगे#अफ़सोस pic.twitter.com/5n0aHIHO6P
— (محمد اجمل) मोहम्मद अजमल (@Mohammad_Azmal_) September 19, 2020
तुमने वोट धर्म और मंदिर के लिए दिया था अब नौकरी मांगोगे तो डंडे ही मिलेंगे#अफ़सोस pic.twitter.com/xPFDV7yHVK
— Yasmeen (@LHYK12) September 20, 2020
तुमने वोट धर्म और मंदिर के लिए दिया था अब नौकरी मांगोगे तो डंडे ही मिलेंगे#अफ़सोस pic.twitter.com/dcQDfrAwqe
— छोरा यूपी का ☝ (@ahmadzulfkar6) September 18, 2020
तुमने वोट धर्म और मंदिर के लिए दिया था अब नौकरी मांगोगे तो डंडे ही मिलेंगे#अफ़सोस pic.twitter.com/HmN5HgcbvY
— L.V.vagh (@LVvagh1) September 20, 2020
Claim:
Photographs show scenes of police brutality against protesters asking for employment in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact Check:
The claim is false. The photos are from 2018.
A reverse image search of the viral photos led to news reports from two years ago.
Reportedly, protestors were injured after police had to resort to baton-charge to quell a demonstration against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government outside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in Lucknow back in November 2018. The protestors who were mainly applicants for the 68,500 posts of assistant teachers in primary schools, were demonstrating against the Adityanath government’s alleged corruption in the selection.
‘The Chief Minister Adityanath administration had dismissed the selection of over 12,460 teachers through an exam advertised in 2016 during the previous Samajwadi Party-led administration and initiated a new selection process in 2018 to fill the 68,500 posts,’ read a report.
According to the protestors they had requested to be shown copies of their assessed answer scripts and discovered that they were not theirs. They had also alleged several discrepancies in the selection process.
The Allahabad High Court which directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct an enquiry into the selection process to fill the 68,500 posts of teachers as advertised by the Yogi Adityanath administration earlier that year sparked the protests.
Below are tweets carrying the viral photos from that time by Samajwadi party spokesperson Richa Singh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and journalist Prashant Kumar:
@myogiadityanath @CMOfficeUP@yadavakhilesh @samajwadipartyएक ग़रीब की किसान की बेटी आर्थिक तंगी से जूझती हुई तो पढ़ ली, आगे बढ़ ली थीपर सरकार के गुंडों से भी लड़ना होगा ये नहीं सोचा होगा उसनेलखनऊ विधानसभा के सामने शिक्षक भर्ती अभ्यर्थियों पर पुलिस का बर्बर लाठीचार्ज।शर्मनाक pic.twitter.com/dUPtBoPQx5
— Richa Singh (@RichaSingh_Alld) November 2, 2018
वादा था 2 करोड़ रोजगार का, मगर UP में 68,500 सहायक शिक्षकों की भर्ती सही से कराए जाने की माँग कर रहे युवाओं के साथ योगी सरकार का बर्ताव देखिए।जो बच्चों का भविष्य बनाते हैं उनके भविष्य पर ऐसी मार?कांग्रेस उत्तर प्रदेश के शिक्षक अभ्यर्थियों के साथ है। युवा इसका जल्द जवाब देंगे। pic.twitter.com/NSWpF7Agu5
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 3, 2018
Heartbreaking images from Lucknow. Young aspirants seeking jobs beaten black and blue by police for protesting against the Yogi govt infront of the #VidhanSabha! pic.twitter.com/ogwSpuxUIP
— Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) November 2, 2018
Another report on the incident can be read here.
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