This video is of Algeria, and does not show Muslims attacking police in Denmark
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 29, 2019 at 14:12
- 4 min read
- By Sami ACEF, Rémi BANET, Grégoire LEMARCHAND
Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The video, shared here and here on Facebook, and here, here and here on Twitter, has racked up thousands of shares. The footage shows crowds attacking a police van and police officers in the street. Captions claim the people in the video are “Muslims in large hordes” or “Muslim thugs” attacking Danish police.
Below is a screenshot of the video posted on Twitter; the publication has since been deleted.
However, the video was actually filmed on Boulevard du Colonel Krim Belkacem in the Algerian capital, Algiers.
Several aspects of the video made us doubt it was taken in Copenhagen. Firstly, we can hear people shouting in Arabic. Secondly, the police van looks like a model used by Algerian police, seen in this photo below taken by AFP in Algiers on April 12, 2019.
The video did not show up via reverse image searches, but comments on some of the posts claimed it was filmed in Algiers. We found this post in French which stated that the footage was taken on boulevard Krim Belkacem in Algiers on March 8, 2019.
A Google Maps search of the street revealed several similarities with the scene in the video, for example the high wall surrounded by buildings.
Images from Google Street View also reveals the similar street lights and buildings.
Furthermore, a video posted on Twitter shows a hotel, which we located to Boulevard Krim Belkacem on Google Street View.
Hundreds of thousands of Algerians took to the streets after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced in February 2019 that he would stand for a fifth term. Demonstrations were mostly peaceful, but police fired tear gas at protesters who tried to force their way through a police cordon on March 8, 2019 in Algiers, AFP reported. President Bouteflika resigned on April 2, 2019, following weeks of protests.
Although this video is unrelated, rioting did break out in Copenhagen on April 15, 2019, when far-right activists led by the head of Denmark’s Hard Line party, Rasmus Paludan, tried to demonstrate in a mainly immigrant district, AFP reported.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us