Covid-19

This video shows football fans marching through an Austrian town in 2019, not an anti-lockdown rally

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on December 1, 2021 at 04:01
  • Updated on December 1, 2021 at 04:36
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP France
  • Translation and adaptation SHIM Kyu-Seok

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A video has been shared multiple times on social media in South Korea alongside a claim it shows a protest against Covid-19 restrictions in Austria. The claim is false: the video was first posted online in November 2019, at least one month before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It shows football fans marching along a street ahead of a Europa League match in Austria.

The video was shared here on Facebook on November 18, 2021.

“Austrians out in full force resisting and defying the illegal lockdown of non-vaccinated people,” the claim reads, in both Korean and English.

Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured November 24, 2021.

A similar claim was shared on Facebook here and here, as well as on Telegram here.

The claim, however, is false.

Through a reverse image search on Google using screenshots from the video, AFP found the same footage was posted here on November 29, 2019, on YouTube.

According to the description on YouTube, the footage shows fans of German football team Borussia Mönchengladbach marching through the Austrian city of Graz.

Borussia Mönchengladbach played Austrian team Wolfsberger AC in a Europa League match in Graz on November 28, 2019.

Photos from AFP's archive correspond with this:

Screenshot of an AFP photo showing a football match between Wolfsberg RZ Pellets WAC and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Graz on November 28, 2019.

Other photos of fans marching through Graz can be seen on this image database here.

The photos show the same Christmas decorations on display in the town, which can also be seen in the video shared on Facebook:

Screenshots of images of the fan march in Graz, Austria.

The Austrian government announced on November 14, 2021, that a lockdown would be imposed on all people not vaccinated or not cured of Covid-19.

Following this announcement, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the afternoon in front of the Austrian Chancellery, waving signs opposing compulsory vaccinations.

A demonstrator holds a placard reading 'No to compulsory vaccination' during an anti-vaccination protest at the Ballhausplatz in Vienna, Austria, on November 14, 2021, after a Corona crisis' summit of the Austrian government. ( APA / GEORG HOCHMUTH)

AFP debunked the identical claim circulating in French, Serbian and Bulgarian.

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