Football riot clip falsely linked to Thailand-Cambodia dispute

Published on July 9, 2025 at 09:57
3 min read
By Pasika KHERNAMNUOY, AFP Thailand

A simmering diplomatic spat between Thailand and Cambodia has led to numerous border closures, but a video of hundreds of people clashing with uniformed officers at a gate in fact shows an Indonesian football fan riot. Social media posts falsely claim the clip depicted Cambodian protesters at a border crossing, but AFP geolocated it to a stadium in the western part of Indonesia's Java island.

"Misfortune occurred after Thailand sealed the border," reads the Thai-language caption of a Facebook video viewed more than three million times since it was posted on June 15.

"See Cambodia is doomed. The leader led his people to ruin," reads text superimposed over the clip depicting hundreds of people rushing at officers behind a gate.

Similar posts linking the video to turmoil in Cambodia surfaced elsewhere on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok after longstanding tensions with neighbouring Thailand escalated into cross-border clashes in late May, with one Cambodian soldier killed.

Screenshot of the false post taken on July 1, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Thailand closed several of its border crossings with Cambodia, while the latter halted imports of fuel, fruits and vegetables, banned Thai dramas from TV and cinemas, and cut internet bandwidth from Thailand (archived link).

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended pending a probe into her ethics after the audio of a diplomatic call between the two sides intended to sooth the spat was leaked, triggering public outrage.

However, the circulating video was in fact taken in Indonesia.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video, along with keyword searches, led to a longer version of the same footage published on TikTok on May 26, 2025 (archived link).

Its Indonesian-language description includes a location tag for "Gelora Bandung Lautan Api Stadium, Bandung City," in the western part of Indonesia's Java island.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the TikTok video posted in May (right)

Elements in the video correspond to Google Maps Street View imagery of the area outside the sport stadium from March 2020, which shows the back of a sign over a gate, the same guard house and a mosque dome in the background, which has since been repainted (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the TikTok video (left) and Google Street View imagery (right), with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP

According to Indonesian media reports, thousands of supporters of the Persib Bandung football team with no tickets tried to force their way into the stadium during a final match on May 24, leading to the clashes (archived here and here).

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation related to the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute.

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