![](/sites/default/files/medias/factchecking//factcheck-visual_31.png)
This video was filmed in 2019 during a protest in Paris
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 16, 2020 at 06:35
- Updated on July 17, 2020 at 10:45
- 3 min read
- By AFP Hong Kong
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The video was published here on Facebook on June 20, 2020. It has been viewed more than 4,800 times.
The 22-second footage shows a black man addressing the camera in English: “If you want to do xenophobia, ok, right, start to kill white people, start to kill Chinese people, start to kill Asian people, don’t kill your brother.”
![](/sites/default/files/styles/image_in_article/public/medias/factchecking/10_0.png?itok=zxvhFlwu)
The Facebook post’s lengthy caption, written in traditional Chinese, purports to detail the writer’s personal experience living in the US as an Asian person. It reads in part: “Do you know who is the most discriminated against by black people in America? Asians! Asians are victims in most of the robbery, theft and murder.
"Black people have killed 15 cops, including two black cops, in this movement, injuring countless others. They remain innocent after all the destruction, robbery, arson and murder, but we are guilty if we don't show support.
“This riot began in Minnesota, where there were originally no black people.”
The Minnesota “riot” mentioned in the post refers to nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism in the US in May and June 2020. The protests were staged after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in police custody in the US state of Minnesota on May 25, 2020, as AFP reported here.
The video was also shared in June and July 2020 here and here on Twitter; here on YouTube; and here on Weibo with a similar claim.
The claim, however, is misleading.
A reverse image search on Google found the video was previously published here on Twitter on September 8, 2019, by French organisation Association LÉA. The group, which changed its name to "Fight For Equality in Anti-Racism" in December 2019, describes itself as "anti-racist" and says it focusses on "anti-white racism".
?Des sympathisants de la LDNA appellent à tuer les Blancs et les Asiatiques en Afrique du Sud. Nous condamnons fermement cet appel au meurtre et au génocide. Nous demandons l’intervention immédiate de l’État pour faire cesser les activités de ce groupement de haine @CCastaner? pic.twitter.com/lJYzdo9m04
— Association LÉA (@LEA_Antiracisme) September 7, 2019
The caption translates from French to English as: “LDNA supporters call for the killing of whites and Asians in South Africa. We strongly condemn this call to murder and genocide. We demand the immediate intervention of the State to stop the activities of this hate group @CCastaner”.
A subsequent keyword search found this September 7, 2019, report by the French branch of RT, a Russian state broadcaster.
The report is entitled “‘Start by killing white people’: Has the LDNA called for racial crime in South Africa?”. It states the speech in the video in the misleading post was recorded during a demonstration in front of the South African Embassy in Paris on September 6.
The rally was held following a spate of xenophobic violence in Johannesburg, as reported by AFP here.
A keyword search on Facebook found this statement from the group LDNA, or Ligue de défense noire africaine, published on September 8, 2019.
In the statement, LDNA apologised for the incident and said it had removed the video in the misleading post from its Facebook page because it did not "endorse" the man's comments.
“Statements made in English by a sympathising brother who is not an LDNA member are in no way acceptable, and we do not endorse them because in the LDNA's commitment to defend the rights of our community, we call for respect for everyone,” the statement reads.
The video in the misleading post was filmed outside the South African Embassy in Paris, as seen on Google Street View here.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/image_in_article/public/medias/factchecking/12.png?itok=AW69tmzT)
UPDATE: This article was updated on July 17, 2020, to clarify the description of Association LÉA.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us