This is an AFP photo taken during anti-citizenship law protests in Lucknow, India in December 2019

This article is more than one year old.
Published on March 9, 2020 at 04:30
2 min read
By AFP India

A photo of a policeman throwing an object has been shared repeatedly in multiple Facebook and Twitter posts which claim it shows a policeman participating in sectarian violence in the Indian capital of Delhi in February 2020. The claim is false; the image is an AFP photo of a police officer taken in December 2019 during clashes with anti-citizenship law protesters in Lucknow, a major city in north India.

The claim was published on Facebook here on February 26, 2020.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:

The post’s Hindi caption translates to English as: “Delhi police in full action along with the rioters.”

In recent weeks, Delhi has experienced its worst sectarian violence in decades. At least 50 people have been killed in the violent clashes, as reported here by AFP on March 7, 2020.

The photo was also posted alongside a similar claim here, here and here on Facebook; and here and here on Twitter.

The claim is false.

A reverse Google image search found the photo was in fact taken by AFP on December 19, 2019, during protests in Lucknow.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading Facebook post (L) and the AFP photo (R) :

The AFP photo caption reads as: “Police throw stones towards protesters during demonstrations against India's new citizenship law in Lucknow on December 19, 2019. Indians defied bans on assembly on December 19 in cities nationwide as anger swells against a citizenship law seen as discriminatory against Muslims, following days of protests, clashes, and riots that have left six dead.”

Deadly unrest also broke out in other cities across India in late 2019 over the citizenship law. Here is an AFP report about the protests.

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