Video from Nepal protests misrepresented as Iran unrest
- Published on January 13, 2026 at 07:32
- 2 min read
- By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
As nationwide demonstrations over economic grievances in Iran grew into one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic's theocratic leadership in years, a video was shared in social media posts falsely claiming it showed a protester tearing down the country's flag. The video was filmed in Nepal and has circulated since September 2025 during protests that toppled the Himalayan nation's government.
"Iranian protesters took over the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and lowered the Iranian flag. The dictatorship is really about to fall," reads the traditional Chinese caption of a Threads video shared on January 2, 2026.
The video, which received over 26,000 likes, shows a man removing a flag from the top of a building as a group of onlookers watch from the street.
It circulated after days of spontaneous protests in Iran, driven by dissatisfaction at the country's economic stagnation (archived link).
The nationwide protests have grown into one of the biggest challenges yet to the theocratic system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the shah. Iranian authorities have blamed foreign interference for stoking the unrest and staged their own nationwide counter-rallies (archived link).
The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it had confirmed 648 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely much higher -- "according to some estimates more than 6,000".
The video was also shared in similar Weibo and X posts.
"The collapse of global totalitarian regimes will trigger a domino effect, who will be next, get ready for some firecrackers," reads a comment on one of the posts.
"They cannot even keep their Revolutionary Guard Corps safe. Khamenei probably has to flee the country this time," reads another comment, referring to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But the video does not show the protests in Iran.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to clearer versions of the footage posted on Instagram in September 2025, which indicated it was filmed in Nepal (archived here and here).
Growing dissatisfaction in the Himalayan nation with political instability, corruption and slow economic development erupted into violent unrest on September 8 and 9, triggered by a government ban on social media (archived link).
The protests, which left at least 73 people dead and saw parliament, courts and government buildings engulfed in flames, toppled the government of prime minister KP Sharma Oli (archived link).
The Instagram videos' captions indicate the flag removed by the protester belonged to the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) -- the party of the ousted prime minister.
The falsely shared video matches Google Street View imagery of the party's office in Kathmandu (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other false posts that misrepresented protest footage.
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