This video shows an anti-government protest in Colombia -- not virus victims in Indonesia
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 23, 2021 at 10:42
- 4 min read
- By AFP Thailand
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"In Indonesia, Covid-19 victims were wrapped in a plastic bag. Some people were not even dead. What a sad image! Wish Thailand never has to experience this. Protect yourselves and do not go out," reads the Thai-language caption of this video posted on Facebook on July 21, 2021.
The video has been viewed more than 4,100 times.
The post circulated online in Thailand after the kingdom's Covid-19 infection and death rates increased, as AFP has reported here.
The country has recorded 426, 475 Covid-19 infections and 3,502 deaths as of July 21.
The same video was shared here, here, and here on Facebook alongside a similar claim.
The claim is false: the video actually shows an anti-government protest in Colombia in 2021.
A reverse Google image search with video keyframes extracted with InVID-WeVerify, a digital verification tool, found this longer version footage uploaded on YouTube on May 27, 2021.
The video's Spanish-language caption translates to English as: "Performance [packed] in Medellin during a national strike on May 26, 2021.
Medellin is Colombia's second-largest city.
At the video's nine-minute 13-second mark, a woman can be heard saying: "Today is Wednesday, May 26 we are in Poblado Park in Medellin.
"This is a performance called "Empaquetados" [Packed] in homage to the people who have been found dead or to the people who have not appeared. It is a cry for help to know what is happening with the people who until today nobody knows where they are, people who were captured by the police or by civilians accompanied by the police".
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R):
Colombia has been rocked by protests which broke out late April in opposition to a proposed tax hike under the right-wing administration of President Ivan Duque, AFP reported.
The international community has condemned a security response that left more than 60 people dead.
A subsequent keyword search found photos of the same event published here on May 28, 2021, by Le Cuento, Colombia-based digital media.
View this post on Instagram
The photos were credited to Jhonatan Rodriguez, a Colombian photographer.
He told AFP he took the photos at an anti-government protest in Medellin on May 26.
He said: "It is an artistic performance that took place on May 26 of this year in Medellin, Colombia. The act of the performance was carried out as a way to protest against the government of Colombia ."
Google Street View imagery of Poblado Park also corresponds to the footage shared in the misleading posts.
The event was also reported here on page six of the Colombian newspaper, ADN Medellin, on May 27, 2021.
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