Video shows Catholic event in Portugal, not LA wildfire evacuees

Published on January 28, 2025 at 04:33
4 min read
By AFP Middle East & North Africa
Translation and adaptation AFP Indonesia

Deadly wildfires in Los Angeles forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes but a widely shared video of a mass of people sleeping in an outdoor field was not filmed in the United States' second largest city. The clip, which racked up hundreds of thousands of views across multiple social media platforms, shows a Catholic event in Portugal in August 2023.

"The evacuees after the fire in Los Angeles, California," read the Indonesian-language caption of the video, which was shared on TikTok on January 19, 2025.

The 33-second clip, watched more than 267,000 times, bore sticker text that made the same claim.

Screenshot of the false post, taken on January 24, 2025

Wildfires driven by an extreme autumn drought and fierce winds scorched parts of Los Angeles in January, killing more than two dozen people and forcing some 90,000 to evacuate (archived link).

But the video -- which posts on Instagram, Snack Video, Threads, X and Facebook also claimed showed a scene from America's second largest metropolis -- was in fact filmed in Portugal.

AFP previously debunked posts that falsely claimed the video showed Palestinian refugees displaced by the war in Gaza.

Catholic event

A reverse image search on Google found it was a slowed down version of a 16-second clip that a user called "Solo Catacumenos" posted on both TikTok and YouTube on August 6, 2023 (archived here and here).

The Spanish-language description of the video read, "This is how a million and a half young people spent the night in #Lisbon". It also included the Spanish-language hashtags "World Youth Day 2023" and "Pope Francis".

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the clip shared on YouTube by Solo Catacumenos (right)

World Youth Day is a celebration of the Catholic faith aimed at young people, held every two or three years at different locations globally (archived link).

Catholic media said more than 350,000 people registered to attend the 2023 event in Portugal's capital Lisbon between August 1 and 6, but reported at least 1.5 million young people gathered for the pope's closing remarks (archived here, here and here).

A further reverse image search found the video corresponds with a picture published on the website of American photo agency Getty Images (archived link).

The picture is credited to photographer Miguel A. Lopes. Its caption read: "AUGUST 6: Pilgrims rest ahead of a holy mass led by Pope Francis on the last day of World Youth Day (WYD) at Parque Tejo on August 6, 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal."

Lopes, a Lusa News Agency photographer based in Portugal, earlier told AFP on November 13, 2023 that he took the picture "when the pope visited Portugal".

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the picture from Getty Images (right) with corresponding elements marked by AFP

The Getty Images photo caption and the World Youth Day website both state the event was held at the Tejo-Trancão Park in Lisbon, Portugal (archived link).

A photo of the park at night uploaded to Google Maps in August 2023 shows similar elements seen in the video (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the video of the sleeping pilgrims (left) and the Google Maps photo of the park (right) with similarities marked by AFP

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to Los Angeles fires here.

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