An image showing several people inside a police van is going viral on the internet with users linking it to the recent violence that has broken out in France.
While one person can be seen with a gun in the picture, another can be seen holding the national flag of France on the top of the vehicle.
Who shared it?: Media outlet One India, among others, shared the picture on their website.
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An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: OneIndia/Screenshot)
The context: Protests broke out in different areas of the country after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead by the police on 27 June. The incident sparked a row on police violence and racism towards marginalised communities. You can read our story here.
What is the truth?: This image is from a French movie called Athena, which was released in 2022.
What led us to the truth?: A similar Google Lens search led us to a similar image uploaded on a Twitter handle named 'Vulture'.
The image was uploaded on a thread that ranked stunts from different action films.
The caption mentioned that the picture is from the opening sequence of the film Athena.
Taking this forward, we performed a keyword search on YouTube and came across the entire opening sequence of the film uploaded on an unverified channel called 'tibsogameTV'.
It was uploaded on 25 September 2022, and at around the 1:26 mark of the video, one can find similar visuals.
We compared a visual from the YouTube clip to the viral image and found that both are the same and part of the film, Athena.
About the film: Athena is a French action drama released in 2022. It was directed by Romain Gavras and features actors such as Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, and Anthony Bajon.
A part of the car opening scene can also be seen in the trailer below.
Conclusion: It is clear that a visual from a French film is being shared with users falsely linking it to the recent protests and violence that has broken out in France.
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