This video has circulated in reports about an anti-government protest in Azerbaijan in 2019

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on April 6, 2020 at 10:20
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP India
A video has been viewed thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube in March 2020 alongside a claim that it shows police in Spain detaining people during a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The claim is false; the video has circulated in reports about an anti-government protest in Azerbaijan in October 2019.

The four-minute 52-second video was published here on Facebook on March 30, 2020. It has been viewed more than 1,200 times.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

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A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post

The post’s Hindi caption translates to English as: “If you think that COVID-19 lockdown in India is very stringent then see the situation of lockdown in Spain.”

On March 24, 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

The Spanish government imposed a near-total lockdown for the country in mid-March.

The video was also shared here and here on Facebook and here and here on Twitter, with a similar claim.

The video was also shared here and here on YouTube and here and here on Instagram, alongside a claim it shows police in the US.

The claims are false; the video has circulated in reports about an anti-government protest in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

A keyword search found the original video published here on October 21, 2019 on the YouTube channel of a Berlin-based Azerbaijani news network Meydan TV. 

The video’s Azerbaijani-language title translates to English as: “Images of police violence and insults to protesters”.

The video's caption translates to English as: “Authorities and YAP officials claim that police did not use violence during the October 19 rally. We have collected images of violence for you during the action. Follow, decide for yourself. Share it so that it reaches the official bodies, maybe they took measures.”

YAP is the name of the ruling political party in Azerbaijan.

Below is a screenshot comparison of keyframes extracted from the video in the misleading posts (L) and the Maydan TV video (R):

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Protesters in Azerbaijan were detained after several demonstrations in late 2019. The rallies were staged over issues including pay and political freedoms. US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch subsequently issued this statement condemning instances of police violence at the protests.

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