Sniper footage predates unrest in France
- Published on July 12, 2023 at 21:59
- 2 min read
- By Katharina ZWINS, AFP USA
- Translation and adaptation Natalie WADE
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"Snipers spotted on French rooftops. This is literally a civil war now in France," says a June 30, 2023 tweet.
The post includes a clip of a man on the roof of a multi-story building, aiming what appears to be a rifle at people below.
The claim spread elsewhere on Twitter and Facebook, including in Austria.
The posts come amid protests in France over the fatal shooting of teenager Nahel M by a police officer during a June 27 traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Rioters have set cars ablaze, looted businesses and clashed with police across Europe.
Out-of-context photos and videos have spread widely in social media posts falsely claiming they show the unrest. The sniper footage is the latest example of that trend.
A reverse image search indicates the clip has been circulating online for more than a year.
"Sniper de la cité," says the caption of a French-language tweet published March 13, 2022 with the same footage, using the term referring to the troubled suburban neighborhoods known as cités.
The video, which appears to stem from Snapchat, includes an additional clip geotagged to the neighborhood of Hautes Noues in Villiers-sur-Marne. Using geolocation techniques, AFP determined the exact location where the footage was shot in the eastern Paris suburb.
The French-language caption in the video shared in 2022 mentions a carnival, suggesting the firearm shown in the footage is not a real rifle. HoaxEye, a Twitter account that debunks misinformation on social media, said in a July 1 post that the weapon appears to be an air gun.
AFP was unable to independently verify the source of the video.
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