Claim
A video of a large crowd offering namaz on a street near a mosque in Russia has been revived on social media platforms with a communal claim that it shows Muslim migrants praying on streets of Paris. The video is being circulated with a caption, "Muslim migrants reading Namaz on the streets of Paris. Your suggestions or comments?"
Fact
BOOM had debunked the same video earlier in May 2022 when it went viral with a similar false claim and found it to be from Russia and not France. We confirmed the location of the Russian mosque from photos available on reports and stock photo websites. The same video was corroborated by digital investigator Benjamin Strick whoconfirmed the video is from the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. We also found a Moscow Times news article published on May 3, 2022, reporting about hundreds of Muslims gathered at the Russian Cathedral Mosque for prayers to mark Eid al-Fitr. The report also mentioned that worshippers often spill out onto the surrounding streets due to the space crunch. One of the pictures in the news report too matches with the location seen in the viral video.