Video of diplomats' police escort falsely shared as 'Sri Lankan president's motorcade'

"King Ranil in Kandy today. Take a look at the pageantry," reads the Sinhala-language caption of the video shared on Facebook here on February 2, 2023.

It goes on to say sarcastically: "Don't you feel proud?"

Police officers can be seen in the clip in ceremonial uniforms leading a convoy of cars, each flanked by police motorcycles.

The video has been viewed over 800 times.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on February 8, 2023.

It circulated days before Sri Lanka marked 75 years of independence on February 4 with a military parade. Deutsche Welle reported that locals were "outraged" by the decision to spend an estimated 200 million Sri Lankan rupees to mark the occasion at a time when the country is battling an unprecedented economic crisis.

The same one-minute 10-second video was also shared here and here on Facebook alongside a similar claim.

Comments on the posts indicate that some users believed the claim was genuine.

"This president is a megalomaniac like Putin. It's a shame that this show is put on using our money," wrote one user.

Another said: "Let the old man have his fun. After all, it will be his one and only time being the president."

The video, however, does not show President Wickremesinghe's motorcade; it in fact shows newly appointed ambassadors and high commissioners to Sri Lanka on their way to meet the president.

Diplomats' motorcade

A keyword search on Facebook led to a video showing a similar scene on Facebook uploaded on February 2, titled "Meanwhile in Kandy, Sri Lanka".

This video also showed a motorcade flanked by policemen in ceremonial uniforms on motorcycles, similar to the video in the misleading post.

An analysis of the video shared in the misleading posts shows it was filmed on the Raja Veediya road in Kandy.

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A screenshot comparison between the video falsely shared on social media (left) and the location on Google Street View (right)

Footage from this video matches a clip posted by local outlet TNL News on Facebook here on February 2 with a title that reads: "VIP motorcade accompanies diplomats in Kandy".

TNL News' clip shows the motorcade turning onto EL Senanayake Veediya before turning right onto the Raja Veediya road -- where the false video was filmed.

Labels visible on the windshields of the cars in the motorcade each display the name of a country.

At the 41-second mark, the label on the car windscreen reads "Sudan" -- while the car that follows has a label that reads "Canada", visible at the 46-second mark.

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Screenshots highlighting placards placed inside the vehicles showing individual countries' names.

A spokesperson for the police's senior deputy inspector general for Central Province told AFP on February 15 that the video shared by the Facebook user and by TNL News depict the same motorcade on February 2.

C. K Rathnayake, a senior superintendent from the Kandy police, separately told AFP the videos do not show a presidential motorcade.

"This video does not show the entourage of vehicles trailing the president. This was for a group of diplomats; it's customary," he said on February 9.

A statement issued by the president's office also said 11 newly appointed ambassadors and six high commissioners presented their credentials to the president at an event at the president's house in Kandy on February 2.

"Certain groups have criticised the police escorting the diplomats under special security to attend the event," the statement said, adding that it was "the responsibility of any government in power in Sri Lanka to give diplomatic recognition to Ambassadors and High Commissioners when they come to present their credentials."

The level of escort seen in the video is similar to those given to ambassadors and high commissioners travelling to present their credentials to the Sri Lankan president in the past, as seen in this YouTube video published by the local Daily FT newspaper in August 2022.

The video -- titled "President receives credentials of Ambassador, High Commissioner" -- shows vehicles carrying the newly appointed Australian high commissioner and Nepalese ambassador being escorted by police as they make their way to present their credentials to the president.