Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan
A video that shows hundreds of people on the streets protesting is being widely shared on Facebook with a false claim that these are the residents of Surat, Gujarat who have come out on the streets because of the unavailability of food due to the coronavirus lockdown.
However, we found out that the video is from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, where protest by the workers of Chenab Textile Mills turned violent on 8 May. The workers were demanding payment of their full salaries.
The aforementioned video was uploaded on Saturday, 9 May, and has been viewed over 5,07,000 times since.
CLAIM
The claim, which is in Hindi, reads, “सूरत गुजरात में जनता सड़क पर राशन दो या गोली मार दो नारे के साथ..” (Translation: In Surat, Gujarat, people have come out on the streets saying either give us food or shoot us).
The video started doing the rounds after the administration in Surat announced that all vegetable and fruit shops will remain closed from 9 May to midnight of 14 May. This was announced as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The video has also found it way to Twitter.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On looking at the video carefully, we noticed a board that read ‘Chenab Textiles’.
We then ran a keyword search on YouTube and came across several videos from the incident. In one video uploaded by a channel called ‘JK Update’ we could match a few frames of the viral video with that shown in this bulletin.
We then got in touch with a local journalist in Jammu who corroborated the details and told us that the visuals are from outside Chenab Textile Mills.
We also came across an interview of Kathua SSP Shailendra Mishra to The Straight Line, a news website. He said that the labourers, who stay in the staff colonies within the mills, had gone to collect their salaries. As the matter escalated, a few people started stone-pelting and came out on the road following which the police took action.
Clearly, an incident which happened in Kathua is being passed off as Surat residents breaking lockdown norms and coming out to protest.
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