Video filmed during Nepal protests misrepresented as fire in Dhaka
- Published on September 25, 2025 at 10:11
- 2 min read
- By Rasheek MUJIB, AFP Bangladesh
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"Terrible fire in Dhaka's Demra. People are jumping from the roof to save their lives. May Allah protect everyone," reads the Bengali-language caption of a Facebook video shared on September 14, 2025.
The video, which has racked up more than 34,000 views, shows people attempting to rescue people trapped inside a burning building.
The same video was also shared in similar Facebook posts.
But the video was not filmed in Bangladesh.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a longer version posted on TikTok on September 9 (archived link).
"Banepa Police Station," reads the TikTok video's title. Banepa is a municipality in Nepal around 25 kilometres (around 16 miles) east of the Himalayan nation's capital Kathmandu.
The title also includes the hashtag "Gen Z", referring to youth-led anti-corruption protests that toppled the government (archived link).
Protests began on September 8, sparked by a short-lived ban on social media, but fuelled by anger at corruption and long-standing economic woes.
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 abolition of monarchy in 2008.
The Kathmandu Post reported that protesters set fire to the Banepa Area Police Office on September 9 (archived link).
The falsely shared video matches Google Street View imagery of the police office in Banepa (archived link).
AFP has debunked other false claims that misrepresented footage as if it were filmed in Bangladesh.
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