A video of protesters stopping an armed forces' vehicle in Bangladesh's Hathazari, post the protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, is being shared with a false claim that the incident is from West Bengal where currently polls are being held.
The video shows protesters armed with sticks obstruct an defence forces vehicle, who in turn ask to be allowed to go claiming they are escorting an ambulance with a patient. Moments later, a section of the protesters get enraged realising that there is no patient inside the ambulance and the person touted to be one, was allegedly seen sitting earlier. Further protests and sloganeering erupt disrupting the passing of the vehicle and chaos prevails.
BOOM found that the video is from Bangladesh's Hathazari, where protests erupted after four were killed in a clash between police and an Islamic activist group; aftermath of anti-Narendra Modi protests during his two day visit to the country in March.
It is doing the rounds on WhatsApp and Facebook with netizens misidentifying the location as West Bengal. The video was also sent to BOOM's helpline and Tipline numbers for verification with the caption, "God save this biggest democracy in d world... Another scene from West Bengal....Is it democracy..". Click here for an archive.
Below is a screenshot of the video that BOOM received on its tipline number.
Fact Check
BOOM was able to ascertain that the video is from Bangladesh as people can be heard speaking in a Bangla dialect native to the country. Additionally, the vehicle registration number on the Army vehicle is written in Bangla and a Bangladesh Army Medical Corps (AMC) personnel can be seen sitting in the ambulance.
We ran a relevant keyword search on Facebook and found the original LIVE video that was uploaded by one HM Al Amin on Facebook at 2.27 pm on March 28. According to the caption on the video, it was shot at Hathazari. The caption in Bangla says, "হাটহাজারী সড়কে সেনাবাহিনী"
The Facebook Live footage is of eight minutes duration. Protesters can be heard asking the recorder to shoot it 'live and share it.' In the montage, protesters can be seen obstructing the vehicle and sloganeering them to reroute later.
At 4 minute 33 seconds of the Live footage we were able to see Al Hera Tahfizul Quran Islamic Academy, located on Rangamati Road, Hathazari, Chittagong. The same was corroborated by BOOM Bangladesh.
The user has uploaded another Live video from the protests of the same day where people can be seen blocking the road by setting wood on fire. The person shooting the video can be heard saying, "The protests are very peaceful right now. Jamaats are present in turns to carry on the protests."
Reports of road blockade in Hathazari can be seen below.
According to reports protests erupted in Chittagong as Narendra Modi visited the country for two days in March. Four people were killed in clashes between Hefazat-e-Islam activists and police during the protest rally in Chittagong's Hathazari; following which madrasa students constructed a brick wall on the the Chittagong-Khagragachi highway stretch to block the highway as a mark of protest. BOOM Bangladesh also reached out to Hathazari Upazila officer Ruhul Amin, who did not wish to comment on the incident.
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With inputs from BOOM Bangladesh