A video of a fight at a US-based Gurudwara from 2016 is being falsely shared as Sikhs in Canada fighting for power after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's alleged support for Khalistani activists. The posts claim that the fight broke out over who gets control over the Gurudwara and then insinuate the ongoing farmer protests are a conspiracy to create riots in India and divide the country.
BOOM found that the video being shared is of a 2016 fight at a Gurudwara in Turlock City, California, at least four years before the farm bills, against which farmers are currently protesting, were passed.
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The video is being shared in the backdrop of the ongoing farmers protests against three new farm bills passed by the Indian government in 2020.
The video begins with a woman getting up and shoving a man recording the ongoing events on a camera or mobile phone. Soon, more women join in and start pushing and shoving each other before an all-out fight breaks out between men. Older men try to stop the fight before a uniformed police officers step in to break up the fight.
A text which reads "Religious power struggle in Canada" has been superimposed on to the video.
The caption being shared with the video reads: Seeing this spectacle taking place behind a chair in a gurdwara in Canada, all Sikh brothers are praying that Punjab should not be allowed in the future. The peasant movement has now become a conspiracy to spread riots in the country and to divide the country. You can prevent this from happening...Farmers like Tikait are misleading you for their personal gain. See and understand the details of their own property. I am sorry if I am wrong.)
An archive of the post can be viewed here.
An archive of the post can be viewed here.
An archive of the post can be viewed here.
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Fact Check
Using the InVid video verification tool, we broke down the video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search on Google. We found the same video from 2017 without the superimposed text. However, we could not identify where the video was shot.
We then ran a Google search with the keywords "fight in gurudwara" and found this video report from IndiaTV titled "America: Violent Fight Inside Gurudwara in Turlock City, California".
We then ran a Google search with the keywords "Turlock gurudwara fight" and found multiple reports on the fight.
The news website Scroll.in reported on the fight on January 12, 2016 quoting a report filed by the website Sikh24.com. The website has also uploaded an extended version of the video which shows people using sticks and musical instruments to beat each other.
Below is the screenshot comparison of the viral video (L) and the original video posted by Sikh24.com (R).
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According to Sikh24, the fight broke out between rival factions who have been at conflict over control of the Gurudwara's management. The Gurudwara had been witness to another fight in 2014 when people belonging to rival factions fough in the Gurudwara's parking lot with belts leading to the temple of worship getting the nickname, "belt Gurudwara."