Water cannons video is from France, not US anti-ICE protest

Published on October 8, 2025 at 19:58
3 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

Conservative US commentators supportive of President Donald Trump are claiming photos show federal agents using water cannons to take down protesters rallying against the Republican's mass-deportation policies. This is false; the images come from footage of a September 2025 protest in France.

"Anti ICE Protesters were hit with water cannons. People are saying this is inhumane and the agents should be held accountable for brutality…" says a September 28, 2025 post on Facebook from David Harris Jr, whom AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading misinformation.

Screenshot from Facebook taken October 6, 2025

Other prominent right-wing voices, including the Hodgetwins and comedian Terrence K Williams, shared similar messages.

The posts spread as Trump has sought to mobilize National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, extending his unprecedented use of the military on American soil to support a crackdown on illegal immigration and crime.

The president previously ordered similar campaigns against the wishes of local officials in Los Angeles and Washington. He has branded Chicago as a "war zone" and threatened October 6 to invoke emergency powers meant to quell rebellion.

Demonstrations against Trump and his mass-deportation policies have occurred regularly across the United States since his return to the White House. The recent surges of federal agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Chicago and Portland have sparked renewed protests.

But the images of demonstrators blasted by water cannons are unrelated.

Reverse image searches traced them to a September 10 video posted on X by Ricardo Parreira, an independent journalist from France (archived here and here).

Aujourd’hui à Montpellier, un manifestant a été grièvement blessé par un tir de canon à eau ciblé dans le visage. Les images parlent d’elles-mêmes.

Ce manifestant est actuellement hospitalisé, dans un état grave : perte de mémoire, incapacité de parler, etc.

⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3lg02QaG8j
— Ricardo Parreira (@ParreirRicardo) September 10, 2025

The post says the video shows riot police forces using water cannons to spray protesters in Montpellier -- with one violently knocking over a rallygoer who, according to the Parreira, was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Reached by AFP via X direct message October 6, Parreira confirmed he recorded the footage himself.

"The images were taken on September 10 at 2 pm, at Place de la Comédie, during the ongoing demonstration against Emmanuel Macron's government," he said.

Protests signaling opposition to President Emmanuel Macron flared throughout France that day under the slogan "block everything," with some 197,000 demonstrators taking to the streets and some 80,000 officers sent to control them, according to French interior ministry figures.

An AFP photojournalist at the scene captured photos showing several of the same individuals depicted in Parreira's footage.

Police use a water cannon to disperse protesters during a demonstration linked to the "Bloquons tout" ("Let's block everything") movement, at the Place de la Comédie, in Montpellier, southern France, on September 10, 2025 (AFP / Gabriel BOUYS)

Police use a water cannon to disperse protesters during a demonstration linked to the "Bloquons tout" ("Let's block everything") movement, at the Place de la Comédie, in Montpellier, southern France, on September 10, 2025 (AFP / Gabriel BOUYS)

Google Street View imagery further confirms the location in Montpellier's Place de la Comédie (archived here).