Old video falsely used in posts claiming anti-government protesters occupied Kenyan airport

Published on July 25, 2024 at 11:43
3 min read
By Mary KULUNDU, AFP Kenya

Hundreds of Kenyan protesters poured onto the streets of Nairobi in July, vowing to occupy the capital’s main airport in response to reports that the government was planning to lease the facility to an Indian firm. Amid the tensions, a video surfaced online claiming the protesters managed to reach the airport despite police efforts to keep them away. But the claim is false: the video is from 2019 and shows airport workers on strike.

On July 23, 2024, a post shared a video featuring what appears to be a reporter’s voice talking about the cancellation of flights at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and police keeping protesters away.

“Nothing has happened until now. There are a few cancellations. KQ has sent an update, or rather has posted something on their Twitter handle, urging customers not to come to the airport if they have a flight past 11 am,” the male narrator says.

“Right now as you can see officers are actually chasing them out of the airport as is. This is the current situation here at the airport.”

KQ stands for Kenya Airways, the country’s national carrier.

The video, which has since been shared more than 2,300 times, is captioned “Airport was occupied”.

A screenshot of the false post, taken on July 24, 2024

Another Facebook post shared the same claim.

“JKIA was actually occupied. They won't show you this,” it said.

A screenshot of the false post, taken on July 24, 2024

The claim was also shared on X, including here, here and here.

On July 23, 2024, anti-government rallies erupted in Nairobi after reports emerged that the government planned to lease the airport to an Indian firm. Officials have denied the claims.

The protesters vowed to occupy JKIA, one of the busiest airports in Africa.

Heavily armed police were deployed on the roads leading to the airport, while aviation authorities told passengers to arrive hours before their flights to navigate the increased security checks.

As AFP reported, while protesters gathered on an estate bordering the airport, police blocked them from accessing the facility itself (archived here).

The video claiming to show protesters inside the airport is old and unrelated.

Workers’ strike

The first clue was the yellow logo in the top right corner of the video, which matched that of Kenyan broadcaster Citizen TV.

A keyword search on its official YouTube channel revealed a story from more than five years ago featuring the same images and voiceover used in the misleading video (archived here).

“GSU, Anti-riot police deployed at JKIA to disperse Aviation workers at JKIA,” reads the caption of the video published on March 6, 2019.

Analysis of the eight-minute-long report revealed that d different sections of the footage had been sliced and pieced together to make up the short clip now circulating on social media.

The first few seconds in the false clip matches the original report running from 2’42” to 2’55”.

A screenshot comparing the false video (left) and the original report (right)

The last part, where police start chasing protesters, was cut starting from the 6’15" mark in the original video.

A screenshot comparing the false video (left) and the original report (right)

AFP at the time also covered the strike, which erupted over the airport's planned takeover by national carrier Kenya Airways (archived here).

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