Old video shows woman burning French flag in Morocco, not France
- Published on June 27, 2024 at 08:44
- 4 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"#EveningNews (19/6/2024) Immigrants living in France came out to show support to Palestinians by burning the French flag," read the Thai-language caption to a video shared in a Facebook group with more than 315,000 members on June 19, 2024.
The video appears to show a woman participating in a pro-Palestinian rally setting fire to a piece of paper that has the French flag printed on it.
The same video was shared alongside similar claims on X in Thai here and here, and in English here and here.
Comments on the posts suggest some users believed the video shows a rally in France.
"Pro-Hamas Muslim immigrants in France burn the French flag, calling for a Free Palestine. Can you understand their perspective?" wrote one user.
Another wrote: "Palestinian woman burns a French flag but why is she living in France then?"
The clip in fact shows part of a demonstration that occurred in Morocco in October 2023.
French consulate in Tangiers
A reverse image search using one of the video's keyframes led to corresponding footage published on YouTube by Tanja News TV, a Moroccan news outlet, on October 25, 2023 (archived link).
The video's Arabic-language title reads, "Burning the flag of France in front of its consulate in Tangiers".
Below is a screenshot comparison between the video used in the false Facebook post (left) and the YouTube video posted by Tanja News TV (right):
The clip falsely shared online corresponds to the first 21 seconds of the Tanja News TV footage. The Tanja News TV video also shows a group of people chanting and waving Palestinian flags, while they are hemmed in by police officers.
Keyword searches in Arabic led to a report about the demonstration by Moroccan news outlet Achkayen (archived link).
Part of the report reads, "Yesterday evening, Tuesday, October 24, those in solidarity with Gaza raised strong slogans against French President Macron, denouncing his visit to Tel Aviv, in a protest in front of the French Consulate in Tangiers."
The article also said the protesters burned the French flag to denounce Macron, who visited Israel on the same day (archived link).
Macron had been the latest in a string of Western leaders to voice support for Israel's riposte to the Palestinian militant group Hamas after the October 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage in the unprecedented attack, 116 of whom remain captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel. The army says 42 of those are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,658 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Google Earth imagery also confirms the video was filmed in front of the French consulate in Tangiers
Below is a screenshot comparison between Tanja News TV's YouTube video (left) and the Google Earth imagery (right), with matching features highlighted by AFP:
An emblem visible in the foreground of the falsely shared clip also corresponds to that worn by Moroccan police officers.
A keyword search led to photos captured by AFP of the emblem here and here.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the police emblem visible in the falsely shared clip (left) and in an AFP photo (right), with the emblem highlighted by AFP:
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
