Old video of Pakistan protester catching tear gas canister falsely linked to Nepal unrest

Published on September 23, 2025 at 07:26
4 min read
By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India

Youth-led protests swept Nepal and ousted its government in September, but a video of a demonstrator catching and throwing a tear gas canister was not taken in the Himalayan nation. The clip was shot in Pakistan and has circulated in a May 2022 report about protests against the removal of former prime minister Imran Khan.

"Amid protests in the streets, a boy caught a tear gas shell like a cricket ball and threw it back. This video is viral in Nepal," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on September 10, 2025.

It shares a video of a protester catching and hurling away a tear gas canister in a street, with overlaid English-language text that repeats the claim.

Screenshot of the false post, taken September 23, 2025

The same video spread alongside similar claims on X, Instagram and Facebook after demonstrations against a social media ban in Nepal boiled over into wider protests against corruption in September (archived link).

At least 73 people were killed and veteran prime minister KP Sharma Oli was forced to quit in the country's worst unrest since the end of a decade-long civil war and the abolition of monarchy in 2008.

Sushila Karki, the 73-year-old former chief justice, has been appointed interim prime minister and is tasked with addressing protester demands for a corruption-free future ahead of elections in March (archived link).

But the circulating video was not taken in Nepal.

A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes found Pakistan-based website Prosports had published screenshots from the clip in a report on May 25, 2022, with a headline that said the video showed a protester hurling the tear gas canister back at police in Punjab (archived link).

The report was published as former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had been removed from office in a no-confidence vote the previous month, launched a nationwide march on May 25, 2022 to call for elections (archived here and here).

Protesters were stopped by barricades at several places and footage showed police personnel charging at marchers at Lahore's Bati chowk and Niazi chowk.

AFP was able to confirm the video was shot in Punjab's capital Lahore based on a "Total Parco" petrol station sign -- the company manages fuel stations in Pakistan -- and a display board reading "Niazi Chowk Station", which can be seen in a higher quality version of the clip embedded in the Prosports report (archived here and here).

Screenshot comparison between the false post video (left) and the footage shared on X (right)

The pedestrian bridge above the Niazi Chowk Metrobus station seen in the footage corresponds to a geotagged photo on Google Maps (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the X video (left) and a photo of the pedestrian bridge at Niazi Chouk bus station on Google Maps (right), with similarities marked by AFP

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper also shared a similar video of officers shooting tear gas at protesters on May 25, 2022, in an Instagram post that said Punjab police were stopping "PTI supporters" from moving forward (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to the Nepal protests here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail