Video does not show Meitei protesters 'removing Indian flag' at local government office
- Published on October 1, 2024 at 09:38
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
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"The disturbing clip shows radicalized students discarding the Indian flag and hoisting a Meitei secessionist flag, revealing how deeply the militant agenda has taken root among civilians," read the English-language caption of an X post shared on September 9, 2024.
The clip in the post also contains text that largely repeats the false claim and has been viewed more than 12,300 times.
The false claim surfaced as hostilities between the Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community in the state erupted again in September after months of relative calm, killing at least 11 people (archived link).
Local police said in a statement on September 9 that a crowd threw stones and plastic bottles at officers at a student-led protest in the state capital Imphal, while protesters in another district snatched arms from police and fired at them.
The video was shared with similar claims on X and Facebook.
However, a longer version of the video sent to AFP by a representative of the student protesters shows the men in the clip were actually replacing a worn-out Meitei ethnic flag -- known as Salai Taret -- with a new one.
Meitei flag
Bruce Pebam, general secretary of the All Manipur Students' Union, said the protesters did not remove an Indian national flag from the government deputy commissioner's office.
He also provided AFP with a clearer video of the same incident, which shows the flag being removed is not the Indian tricolour.
Below is a comparison between the flag seen in the video provided by Pebam (left) and a picture of the Indian flag from AFP's archive (right).
Indian media have also quoted a local police official refuting the claim, stating that the student protesters attempted to replace an old Salai Taret flag at the gate of the deputy commissioner's office in Thoubal district of Manipur.
"It was an old Salai Taret flag taken down by protesting students and replaced with a new one. That flag has since been removed," said the Thoubal government Deputy Commissioner A Subhash Singh to local outlet EastMojo. "We don't usually hoist a flag at the main gate. The tricolour is flown at the main office complex." (archived link)
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