Posts resurface old video of violent demonstrations to fan anti-immigrant sentiment
- Published on April 23, 2026 at 03:49
- 3 min read
- By Hawon Jung, AFP South Korea
South Korea's acceptance of more immigrants in recent years to address the problem of its rapidly shrinking workforce has also fuelled anti-foreigner sentiment in the country, but footage circulating on social media purportedly showing a recent "riot" by immigrants in Paris is several years old. The Paris police told AFP no such protest had occurred in the French capital in recent months. The footage in fact comprises clips filmed in December 2022, during furious protests sparked by the fatal shooting of three Kurds in the French capital.
"Today, 31 French police officers were injured in the 'Kurdish riot' that has broken out in Paris," reads part of the Korean-language caption of an X video shared on April 7, 2026.
"French citizens are voicing their frustration, demanding that these groups be sent back to their home countries. The entire world seems to be grappling with the headache of immigration."
The video comprises two clips. The first shows several overturned cars that have been set on fire, on a street littered with debris. The second clip shows a group of people smashing the glass panels of a bus shelter.
The video was also shared elsewhere in similar X posts.
South Korea has welcomed a growing number of immigrants in recent years as it seeks to combat rock-bottom birth rates and a shrinking pool of workers but the demographic changes in the country -- which has long remained ethnically homogenous -- have also fuelled anti-foreigner sentiment (archived here and here).
According to a survey of 16,000 South Koreans by the state human rights commission in 2021, over 54 percent of respondents said immigrants faced hate or discrimination in the country (archived link).
While the video does show demonstrations in Paris involving the city's Kurdish population, it was not filmed recently as the posts claim.
"No such event has taken place in the Paris area in recent months," the Paris police told AFP in an email on April 16, 2026, adding that the force "strongly denounces this false information".
2022 demonstrations
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found the first clip was previously shared by French journalist Remy Buisine on X on December 24, 2022 (archived link).
AFP reported at the time that thousands of people had gathered at the Place de la Republique in central Paris to commemorate three Kurds killed in an attack near a Kurdish cultural centre days earlier by a man who confessed to a "pathological" hatred for foreigners (archived here and here).
Many expressed anger at the French security services for doing too little to prevent the shooting, and the frustration boiled over at the rally as furious demonstrators clashed with police. AFP journalists at the scene said at least four cars were overturned and one was burnt.
AFP also distributed a photo and video showing the same overturned car.
The clip had also previously been shared alongside false claims linking it to protests against pension reforms in France in 2023 and another bout of violence in Paris in January 2026.
A separate reverse image search found the second clip had been shared by a Turkish-language website on December 25, 2022 (archived link). Another Turkish-language website published the clip in a December 26, 2022 report about the same protests (archived link).
AFP reached out to both websites for comment, but did not receive a response by time of publication.
The footage also matches Google Street View imagery from near the Place de la Republique, where the protests erupted (archived link).
Moreover, a demonstrator wearing a yellow headscarf seen at the falsely shared video's 31-second mark can also be seen in footage of the protest aired on French TV station CNEWS (archived link). The footage was uploaded to a French user's YouTube channel, and its authenticity was verified by the outlet in an email to AFP on April 21, 2026.
AFP has previously debunked other false claims about anti-immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment in South Korea.
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