This image shows an anti-Brexit demonstration in London in 2019
- This article is more than four years old.
- Published on March 24, 2021 at 11:05
- 2 min read
- By AFP Australia
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The photo was published on March 21, 2021, on Facebook here, where it has been shared more than 660 times since.
The post’s caption reads: “Best I’ve found so far.
London... we showed the world how it is done.”
The post circulated after thousands of people protested against ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in London on March 20, 2021, as AFP reported here.
The Facebook user posted other anti-lockdown protest news throughout the day. Other Facebook users also appeared to believe the image was associated with the anti-lockdown protest, posting comments such as: “Well done all you folks in London it was fantastic to see everyone all united and muzzleless and real faces for a change instead of zombies.”
The photo was also published alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here, and here; and on Instagram here.
However, the claim is false.
A Google reverse image search found that the photo was published in a BBC report here on March 23, 2019. The article is headlined “Brexit march: Million joined Brexit protest, organisers say”.
“Aerial pictures taken from a helicopter showed the scale of the crowds,” the image’s caption reads.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo shared in the misleading post (L) and the image published by the BBC in 2019 (R):
A similar angle to the image can also be viewed at the 21-second mark in this BBC aerial video, which shows the extent of the protest from London’s Park Lane to Parliament Square.
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