Footage shows police arresting fountain bather in Italy, not France

“French police are struggling with Nigerian immigrants flooding their country,” reads an X post published on August 25, 2024.

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A screenshot of the false post, taken on August 27, 2024

The clip shows a naked man running from police after bathing in a public fountain. The officers stop the individual and hit him several times with their batons before detaining him.

The video, which has more than 1,800 likes, was published on a pro-Russian account that regularly shares content disparaging Nigerians.

The post drew xenophobic comments, with some even calling for violence.

“Every country in the world has problems with Nigerians,” wrote one user, while another suggested the police should have drowned the individual rather than arresting him.

Immigration is a hot-button political issue in European politics, with more than 1.1 million people applying for asylum in the European Union plus its Schengen-associated nations Norway and Switzerland in 2023 – the highest number since 2016 (archived here). 

France’s far-right National Rally party has made slashing immigration central to its political identity, finishing first in the country’s European Parliament elections in June (archived here and here). 

But the footage is from a 2021 incident in Rome, not France.

Italy, not France

AFP Fact Check used a reverse image search and found a shortened clip of the original footage from Italian news reports about a 2021 incident in Rome (archived here).

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Comparison of the false post (left) with Italian media image

In both the original footage and false post, the man in the fountain can be seen wearing a red beret, while the officers’ uniforms have “police” written in Italian on the back.

Italian media reported that the incident occurred at the “Fontana delle Naiadi”.

Using Google Maps, AFP Fact Check found the historical landmark in Rome.

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A comparison of the false post (left) and the fountain on Google Maps

The same statue and storefronts behind the fountain are visible in both clips.

AFP reached out to Roman police, who confirmed the individual in the video is a 25-year-old Nigerian in the country legally who was taken to a hospital after the incident for “compulsory medical treatment.” 

Immigration in France

France adopted a tough immigration bill in December 2023, backed by the far-right, with President Emmanuel Macron saying the country has an “immigration problem”.

Then, in May 2024, Nigeria and France committed to strengthening ties, specifically to work on tackling illegal migration (archived here).

But the statistics show that Nigeria is not one of the leading countries of origin for immigrants coming to France.

France's national statistics agency INSEE released a 2021 report showing nearly half of the country’s immigrants hail from just seven countries: Algeria, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia, Italy, Spain and Turkey (archived here and here).