World Cup celebrations falsely claimed to show French protests

This article is more than one year old.
Published on May 5, 2023 at 19:26
2 min read
By AFP USA

A tweet sharing an aerial view of crowds on the Champs-Elysees in Paris claims the photo was taken during 2023 protests against French President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform. This is false; the image was taken in July 2018 following France's victory against Croatia in the final of the FIFA World Cup.

"The French protests in the millions to tell WEF globalist puppet Macron to get the F out," says an April 30, 2023 tweet, referencing ongoing civil unrest across France against multiple government-backed reforms and proposals.

Screenshot of a tweet taken May 1, 2023

Other tweets shared the image in the same context.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets May 1, Labour Day in France, to protest pension reforms that Macron signed into law April 15. Among the key provisions of the measure include raising the retirement age to 64 and extending the years of work required for a full pension.

But the image shared online is unrelated to the Labour Day protests -- it was taken after France's football team won the final of the World Cup against Croatia on July 15, 2018.

AFP covered the celebrations in the streets of Paris that day. Aerial shots taken by photographer Ludovic Marin from the top of the Arc de Triomphe show crowds similar to those seen in the photo in the posts.

This picture taken from the top of the Arc de Triomphe on July 15, 2018 shows people lighting flares as they celebrate after France won the Russia 2018 World Cup final football match against Croatia on the Champs-Elysees in Paris ( AFP / Ludovic MARIN)

The location of the picture, the buildings and the smoke in the crowds also match the picture shared on Twitter.

The 2018 celebrations were covered widely by other news organizations that day, and similar images were shared on social media.

AFP has previously fact-checked out-of-context photos of the World Cup crowds in Paris here.

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