Old video shows independence day rally in Warsaw, not Paris demonstrations

Published on September 22, 2025 at 08:31
3 min read
By Anne CHAN, AFP Hong Kong

After protesters took to the streets in Paris in a show of grassroots opposition to President Emmanuel Macron and planned austerity measures, an old video resurfaced in posts falsely claiming it showed the demonstrations in the French capital. The footage was in fact filmed in Poland's capital Warsaw and previously circulated in a post about an independence day rally in the city in November 2017.

"This isn't a Hollywood blockbuster. This is Paris today: 250,000 people in France are protesting government plans to cut healthcare spending and reduce public holidays," reads part of the simplified Chinese caption of an X video shared on September 13, 2025.

The video, which was viewed more than 188,000 times, shows a road packed with people. The area is blanketed in smoke and appears to be bathed in a red glow from flares.

"Why do the dissidents focus only on Nepal, but ignore Paris?" adds the caption.

Screenshot of the false X post captured on September 15, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The video was shared in similar Douyin, TikTok and X posts after around 200,000 demonstrators turned out in Paris and across France in a show of grassroots opposition to President Emmanuel Macron and planned spending cuts following calls on social media to "block everything" (archived here and here).

One protester was hospitalised after being tear-gassed during clashes with police, who were pelted with garbage as demonstrators built barricades and blocked schools and roads.

The nationwide protests coincided with deadly clashes in Nepal that toppled the Himalayan nation's government (archived link).

But the circulating video does not show the protests in the French capital.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage posted on Facebook on November 12, 2017 (archived link).

Its Czech-language caption says it shows a rally in Warsaw marking the 99th anniversary of Poland's independence.

A Warsaw-based AFP fact-checker said the people in the video are singing the Polish national anthem.

Screenshot comparison of the false X post (left) and the November 2017 Facebook post (right)

AFP reported that tens of thousands of people carrying Polish flags and throwing red smoke bombs had joined the march in Warsaw organised by far-right nationalists to mark independence day, while counter-protesters rallied against fascism (archived link).

The circulating video also corresponds to AFP video of the Warsaw demonstration, as well as a European Pressphoto Agency image used in a report from The New York Times about the protest (archived here, here and here).

The footage also matches Google Street View imagery of the intersection of Marszałkowska Street and Jerozolimskie Avenue captured in August 2017 (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and Google Street View imagery captured in August 2017 (right), with matching elements highlighted by AFP

AFP has previously debunked other false claims that misrepresented imagery from Polish independence day protests.

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