After Pakistan police arrested 1,000 Imran Khan supporters who marched to the country’s capital demanding the jailed ex-leader’s release in November 2024, an old video resurfaced in social media posts falsely claiming it shows a doctor speaking out about the government’s “cruelty” towards the protesters. In fact, the video is from 2021 and the man was reacting to the Khan government’s response to violent anti-France protests that paralysed large parts of Pakistan.
“Seeing the worst cruelty of the government on unarmed [Khan] supporters, a doctor also cried out,” read the Urdu-language caption to a video uploaded to X on November 27, 2024, where it has been shared 2,000 times.
The video shows a man criticising Khan for his heavy-handed treatment of protesters despite the ex-leader’s claims of wanting to build a fair and equal Pakistan (archived link). It then cuts to a shot of injured people sitting and lying on the floor.
The post included hashtags referring to protests to demand the release of the jailed former prime minister, whose supporters marched to the capital Islamabad in late November 2024 in spite of a ban on public gatherings (archived link).
The pro-Khan convoys clashed with security forces, who responded with volleys of rubber bullets and tear gas. The crowds were eventually evicted from the city centre in a sweeping security crackdown, with nearly 1,000 people arrested, police said (archived link).
Screenshot of the false post taken on December 30, 2024
The same clip was also shared with a similar claim elsewhere on X and Facebook.
However, the video predates the pro-Khan protests and has circulated since 2021.
Anti-France protests
Reverse image searches using keyframes from the video on Google led to the same footage on YouTube, uploaded on April 19, 2021 and titled “Tragedy of Yateem Khana, doctor’s message after seeing situation || tehreek e labaik” (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (left) and the video shared on YouTube (right):
Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (left) and the video shared on YouTube (right)
Subsequent keyword searches led to reports by local newspaper Dawn about clashes in the Yateem Khana neighbourhood of Lahore between police and protesters from the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, who were demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador in April 2021 (archived links here and here).
According to AFP, the deadly riots followed months of anti-France tensions in Pakistan after President Emmanuel Macron supported a satirical magazine’s right to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed — deemed blasphemous by many Muslims (archived link).
TLP leader Saad Rizvi was arrested and his party banned after his call to march on the capital Islamabad brought thousands of his supporters onto the streets in cities across the country.
At least six police officers were killed in the clashes, while several others were held hostage by protesters. TLP leaders also said several party supporters were killed (archived link).
Meanwhile, the Dawn report said the police officers were held hostage at the Rehmat al Alameen mosque in Yateem Khana neighbourhood of Lahore — AFP found visual elements in the circulating video which correspond to the interior of the mosque.
The circulating video’s 29-second mark shows a set of clocks, patterned tiles and an electronic prayer timetable, which can also be seen in a photo published by UK-based photo agency Alamy on December 16, 2021 (archived link).
The caption states the photo shows TLP leader Saad Rizvi at the Rehmat al Alameen mosque.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the scene in the video (left) and the Alamy photo (right), with corresponding features marked by AFP:
Screenshot comparison of the scene in the video (left) and the Alamy photo (right), with corresponding features marked by AFP
AFP has debunked other videos falsely shared as pro-Khan rallies here and here.
