Video from Morocco Falsely Shared as Theft of Goats in Maharashtra

Although the video was shot ahead the festival of Eid al-Adha, it’s from the city of Casablanca in Morocco.

A video showing loot and violence at a sheep-goat market has gone viral on social media.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing looting and violence at a livestock market has gone viral on social media with the claim that the incident occurred at Maharashtra's borders. The video is being shared in the context of the Eid festival held on 31 July. However, we found that the video is actually from Casablanca in Morocco.

CLAIM

The viral video is being shared with the claim that "non-secular politicians and police" are behind the loot of these goats at the Maharashtra borders to harass the Muslims who actually bought them.

An archived version of the post can be found here. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be found here. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The Quint also received the video on its WhatsApp helpline number.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A reverse image search of the key-frames of the video led us to an article by a Moroccan daily tabloid, ahdath.info. The article stated that the video captures the recent loot and violence at a sheep market in Al-Hassani neighbourhood in Casablanca.

A keyword search of "violence," "loot" and "Al-Hassani" led us to several news reports of the incident.

Morocco World News, an Arabic and English language e-newspaper, reported on 31 July that, "Azmat, a Moroccan “rehba,” a livestock market offering sheep and goats for sale for Eid Al Adha, was rocked with violence and chaos." The article carried a screenshot from the viral video.

We also found a report by a Casablanca-based digital media company, We Love Buzz,on the same incident, in which it said that the General Directorate of National Security, Morocco, stated that "interventions made it possible to arrest several individuals involved in these criminal acts and to restore order in the market. The news outlet is verified on Facebook and had uploaded the viral video with details of the incident, and said it took place the day before Eid al-Adha. They are also verified on Twitter.

We also found that Moroccan journalist Ridouane Erramdani had shared the video on his verified Instagram handle, with the caption, "Eid al-Adha... no comment..."

Further, we checked the Facebook page of the General Directorate of National Security, Morocco and found that they had uploaded a post about the incident on 31 July.

The post said that the incident had taken place in Casablanca’s Hasani neighbourhood and that 20 individuals have been arrested by the police so far, for their alleged involvement in the violence and theft at the livestock market.

It is therefore clear that although the video was shot recently ahead of Eid al-Adha, it's actually from the city of Casablanca in Morocco and not from Maharashtra.

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