'Solidarity march' footage misrepresented as Cambodian protest over govt's handling of border clashes

"Tens of thousands of Cambodians have begun to see the light," reads part of the Thai-language description of a TikTok video published on August 1, 2025.

The video, which accumulated over 330,000 views, shows a large crowd marching through city roads while waving Cambodia's national flag. A nationalist song can be heard in the background.

The description claims the video shows a protest in Phnom Penh against Cambodia's influential ex-leader Hun Sen and his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet.

It says the protesters were accusing their government of "causing multiple deaths in the war with Thailand and covering up the truth about (unrecovered) soldiers' bodies."

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Screenshot of the false post captured on August 18, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The footage was also shared in similar posts by Thai social media users on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.

It surfaced days after Bangkok and Phnom Penh agreed to a ceasefire that came into effect on July 29, following five days of border clashes that killed at least 43 people on both sides (archived link).

The clashes -- boiling over from a long-running border row between the Southeast Asian neighbours -- also forced more than 300,000 to flee their homes.

Following the truce, Thailand's deputy defence minister Nattapon Narkphanit called on Cambodia to retrieve the bodies of its fallen troops at the border (archived here and here). Social media users from both countries have accused the other side of failing to retrieve the bodies of dead soldiers.

The circulating video, however, does not show a protest against the Cambodian government.

'Solidarity March'

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip and additional keyword searches led to a higher-quality version of the video posted on TikTok on June 18 (archived link).

"Khmer united, Khmer strong," reads the Khmer-language caption of the TikTok video.

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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the video posted on June 18 (right)

A similar video was published on the verified Facebook page of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia on the same day (archived link).

Its Khmer-language caption reads: "May the Cambodian people continue the spirit of June 18, 2025. Please watch the video overview of the #solidarity march to show support for the Royal Government and the Cambodian Armed Forces, which took place on June 18, 2025."

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Screenshot comparison of the June 18 video (left) and a similar video posted by the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (right), with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP

AFP reported that tens of thousands of Cambodians joined the "Solidarity March" led by Cambodia's deputy prime minister Hun Many to support Cambodia's government and troops stationed on the border with Thailand (archived link).

The falsely circulated video also corresponds to an AFP video of the government rally (archived link).

The rally took place against the background of a border standoff between Cambodia and Thailand, after a Cambodian soldier was killed on May 28 as troops exchanged fire in a disputed area where the borders of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet.

The border tensions saw Cambodia ban Thai dramas from TV and cinemas, close a popular border checkpoint and cut internet bandwidth from Thailand.

AFP has previously fact-checked other misinformation related to the border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.