Unrelated video from Canada falsely linked to India's 'cockroach' protesters
- Published on July 28, 2026 at 13:33
- Updated on July 28, 2026 at 13:38
- 2 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
Weeks of protests by the social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding educational reform culminated in the resignation of India's education minister, but a video purporting to show protesters dancing at the Jantar Mantar demonstration site in New Delhi is false. AFP geolocated the video and matched it to Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver, Canada.
"After the immense success of the cockroaches' special 'gender dance' protest, the 'Chaiyya Chaiyya' protest is now underway," reads the Hindi-language caption of an Instagram post shared on July 20, 2026, which appears to mock the demonstrators.
The post shared a 25-second clip showing a large group of people dancing to the popular Bollywood tune "Chaiyya Chaiyya".
Superimposed text on the video reads: "A sit-down gathering?"
Similar claims also spread on Facebook, Instagram, and X posts as thousands of protesters gathered in the heart of the Indian capital to demand the resignation of India's education minister Dharmendra Pradhan (archived link).
Pradhan resigned on July 25 after weeks of protests by the CJP, which saw police fire tear gas and charge protesters as they tried to march from Jantar Mantar to the parliament (archived link).
The movement sparked by a call for education reforms evolved to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what critics brand as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's increasingly authoritarian style of governance (archived link).
However, the clip shared online is unrelated to the New Delhi protest.
Event in Canada
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to an Instagram video shared on July 14, 2026 (archived link).
The video was captioned: "Chhaiya Chhaiya changed the vibe from seated to spectacular."
According to the post, the event took place at Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver, Canada.
The same video was also shared by the Instagram page Vancouver Mehfil, a popular local community arts initiative that hosts outdoor open-mic jam sessions and cultural gatherings at Kitsilano Beach (archived link).
The page has also shared a similar visual shot from a different angle (archived link).
AFP reached out to the page, but has not received a reply.
Upon careful analysis, AFP found elements in the video, such as a house with distinctive windows in the background, that match Google Street View imagery of Kitsilano Beach (archived link).
AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the CJP-led protests here, here and here.
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