Video of people driving over Indian flag was shot in Pakistan

"Watch this video from Kerala and be shocked at this open display of anti national fervour," reads part of the caption to the video shared here on Facebook on July 12, 2023.

"What should be the punishment to perpetrators including the state government?" it adds.

Southern Kerala state and its left-wing government have frequently been accused of anti-nationalism including by members of India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The video shows vehicles driving over an Indian flag as bystanders cheer and wave the Pakistan flag.

Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan are bitter political rivals and have fought three wars since being carved out of the subcontinent's partition in 1947.

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Screenshot of the false post taken on August 18, 2023

The video was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here and on X, formerly known as Twitter here.

In reality, it was filmed in Pakistan's port megacity Karachi.

Anti-India rally

A reverse image search on Google, followed by keyword searches found the same video uploaded on X on March 10, 2020 (archived link).

The caption of the post reads: "Because my Pakistan Army has no balls to face a professional army on a battlefield, they do these kinds of cheap things. Hatred is being pumped up in common Pakistanis."

At the 0:02 mark of the video, a signboard that reads "Sanam Boutique" is visible which corresponds to a shop on Tariq Road in Karachi visible here on Google Maps street view (archived links here and here).

Similarly, at the video's 0:09 mark, a high-rise with glass windows can be seen which AFP geolocated here on the same road (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the shop and building seen in the video (left) and the same locations on Google Maps (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the shop and building seen in the false post (left) and the same locations on Google Maps (right)

Moreover, several clues in the video indicate it was shot in Pakistan, not India.

At the 3:38 mark, a white van bearing signage for The Hunar Foundation can be seen passing by:

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The Hunar Foundation is based in Karachi and provides students with vocational training (archived link).

At the 3:44 mark, a car can be seen with a vehicle registration number in the style of those issued in Pakistan's Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. News reports here and here show similar registration plates from Sindh (archived links here and here).

An AFP reporter visited Tariq Road in Karachi on August 16 and met with a person working in a garment shop who said the video was recorded on the street.

"It was an anti-India rally. The Indian flag was painted on the road in 2020, I do not remember which month it was. The organisers were the activists of the PML-Q (Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam) party," Wasim Akhtar, 32, who works at a nearby garment shop told AFP.

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