As authorities in Pakistan tightened security ahead of a planned protest march by jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party, a video was shared in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed thousands of demonstrators marching to the capital Islamabad. The clip in fact shows Christian worshippers leaving a mass hosted by Pope Francis during his visit to East Timor in September 2024.
The clip, which shows a road packed with people and vehicles, racked up more than 114,000 views after being shared on Facebook on November 24.
“A sea of people moving towards D-Chowk in Islamabad,” read its Urdu language caption, referring to public square in the city’s government enclave which houses the Presidential Palace, the prime minister’s office, parliament and the Supreme Court (archived link).
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on December 3, 2024
The same video was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook here and here, as well as on X here and here.
It surfaced as supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan marched on Islamabad, responding to his call for demonstrators to demand his release, as well as to protest against alleged tampering in elections in February and against a government-backed constitutional amendment giving it more power over the courts (archived link).
Despite a ban on public gatherings, convoys of pro-Khan demonstrators marched to the city, hauling aside roadblocks and skirmishing with police and paramilitary forces firing volleys of rubber bullets and tear gas (archived link).
Police said on November 27 they had arrested nearly 1,000 protesters after crowds were evicted from the city centre in a sweeping security crackdown (archived link).
The video circulating online, however, does not show the protesters.
AFP has previously fact checked claims the same video showed rallies in the Philippines and India.
East Timor footage
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a higher-quality version that was posted on TikTok on September 11 (archived link).
Hashtags in the caption suggested it was filmed during Pope Francis’s visit to East Timor, where he celebrated mass for hundreds of thousands of faithful on September 10 (archived link).
Around 600,000 people out of a population of 1.3 million attended the mass, the Vatican said in a statement, citing local authorities, in the biggest turnout for a papal event by population proportion outside the Holy See.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the footage shared on TikTok in September (right):
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the footage shared on TikTok in September (right)
An analysis of the footage shared on TikTok shows the flag of East Timor on streetlights and a poster of the pontiff.
Screenshot showing the flag of East Timor on streetlights and a poster of the pontiff
The user who shared the footage, Rey Marques, a photographer based in the capital Dili, told AFP at the time that he did not know who filmed the video but identified the scene as being near the Raikotu General Cemetery.
AFP confirmed the location of the footage by comparing it to Google Street View imagery from the area (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison highlighting a house, street and tree in the TikTok video (left) and the corresponding elements on Google Street View (right):
Screenshot comparison highlighting a house, street and tree in the TikTok video (left) and the corresponding elements on Google Street View (right)
A livestream on the Facebook page of local media outlet TVET Entertainment shows a similar scene of crowds after the mass (archived link).
AFP has debunked other false claims related to protests held in support of Khan here and here.
