This video actually shows Italian Republic Day celebrations in Rome’s Piazza Venezia

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 26, 2019 at 07:35
3 min read
By Supriya BATRA

A video showing a squadron of fighter jets emerging behind a building and leaving trails of coloured smoke in the overhead sky has been viewed thousands of times on social media. A caption along the video claims that it shows Indian Independence Day celebrations at Trafalgar Square in London. This claim is false; the video shows neither Indian Independence Day nor Trafalgar Square in London. It actually shows Italian Republic Day celebrations in Rome.

A 45-second video was published in this Twitter post on August 17, 2019, and has since been viewed 1,000 times.

The post’s caption states:
“Request everyone to watch this 1 minute video without miss.
This is an amazing forward from Trafalgar square, London during the celebration of India’s Independence Day.Jai Hind”

Below is a screenshot of the misleading tweet:

Screenshot of the misleading post

A slightly longer video of 55 seconds showing the same visuals and making a similar claim is also circulating on Facebook here and here.

The same video was published on YouTube on August 16, 2019 -- just a day after India marked its annual Independence Day celebrations -- with similar claims here and here.

But the video shows neither Indian Independence Day celebrations nor a view of London’s Trafalgar Square.

The building shown in the video is the Vittorio Emmanuelle II Monument, also known as the Altar of the Fatherland (“Altare della Patria” in Italian). It is located in central Rome’s Piazza Venezia and is one of the Italian capital’s most famous buildings.

Below is a comparison of a screenshot from the misleading video (L) and a photo taken at the same location in Italy by AFP photographer Andreas Solaro (R):

Comparison of a screenshot from the misleading video (L) and an AFP photo (R)

Republic Day is celebrated in Italy on June 2 every year, marking the day in 1946 when the country voted to abolish its constitutional monarchy.

The Italian Air Force’s Frecce Tricolori air squad performs a ceremony marking Italian Republic Day on June 2 every year. Their jet planes fly over the Altare della Patria monument in Piazza Venezia, leaving a trail of green, white and red smoke in the sky.

Below is a video posted on June 2, 2019 by the verified account of the Italian Air Force showing the ceremony on Italian Republic Day this year:

#2giugno #FestaDellaRepubblica le @FrecceTricolori suggellano momento della deposizione della corona alloro al Milite Ignoto da parte Presidente Repubblica Sergio #Mattarella. Presenti Ministro Difesa Trenta e #CapoSMD Gen. Vecciarelli @MinisteroDifesa @Quirinale @SM_Difesa pic.twitter.com/PZcK5CKnGq
— Aeronautica Militare (@ItalianAirForce) June 2, 2019

A picture from the same social media account shows the same ceremony from an earlier date:

72° anniversario Repubblica Italiana... oggi come ieri #unitiperilPaese!
Aspettando il #2giugno, i Reparti dell'#AeronauticaMilitare che parteciperanno alla rivista e informazioni dal portale #MinisteroDifesa: https://t.co/2Yh3aQ9uq9 #FestadellaRepubblica #FestadegliItaliani pic.twitter.com/fCn2jyluHR
— Aeronautica Militare (@ItalianAirForce) May 31, 2018

Below is a comparison of a screenshot from the misleading video (L) and the picture posted by the Italian Air Force:

Comparison of a screenshot from the misleading video (L) and the Italian Air Force's picture (R)

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