Video of India cricket parade falsely linked to Muslim comments row
- Published on October 4, 2024 at 10:14
- 3 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
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"A sea of devotees of the prophet gathered in Mumbai today in love for their Prophet Mohammad Mustafa," read a Hindi-language Facebook post that shared the video on September 24.
The post tagged former Indian lawmaker Imtiaz Jaleel, who led a convoy of hundreds of vehicles to Mumbai the previous day calling for the arrest of Hindu preacher Ramgiri Maharaj and Nitesh Rane, a politician from India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over incendiary remarks about Muslims (archived link).
Rane made death threats against Muslims while defending the preacher who made inflammatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed and his wife.
The protesters were denied entry into Mumbai and turned back after handing a letter with their demands to government representatives.
The video shows a street choked with people and a convoy of vehicles, with an Islamic song added to the clip.
The clip was shared in similar posts on X and Facebook.
However, the video in fact shows cricket fans in Mumbai celebrating India's dramatic win over South Africa in the T20 Cricket World Cup finale on June 29.
Cricket victory parade
A Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video found it was previously posted on X on July 4 -- months before Imtiaz Jaleel's protest (archived link).
"Mumbai came to a standstill to welcome the world champion Indian team," read the Hindi-language post, which was shared by Indian media outlet The Red Mike.
After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, India's cricket team headed to the financial capital Mumbai, the birthplace of India's cricket obsession, for an open-topped bus parade along a seafront route thronging with jubilant crowds (archived link).
They took a victory lap in front of thousands more fans at Wankhede Stadium, the site of India's last World Cup win for the 50-over edition of the tournament in 2011.
AFP confirmed the video was filmed on the Marine Drive coastal promenade in Mumbai by comparing it to Google Street View images from the area (archived link).
AFP photographer Punit Paranjpe took photos of the scene, showing fans gathered along Marine Drive as they awaited the cricket team's arrival.
AFP previously fact-checked a similar video falsely shared as Muslims protesting in Mumbai but that in fact showed the pope's visit to East Timor.
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