A video showing several people clinging on to the side a building, with some of them falling off, is being shared on social media, where users have linked it to the ongoing violence across Bangladesh.
The claim: Those sharing this clip have given it a communal angle and shared it with text which reads — "Horrible..In Hindu hostel Dhaka, Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami attacked,see how students hang from Cornice. How many felled & jumped out in fear, whether alive or dead , God knows. This is what secularism gives you ..Demons of this yuga this community is .. (sic)."
(Note: We have not added links to this video due to its graphic nature.)
The video is being shared across social media platforms.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Altered by The Quint)
Is it true?: No, this incident has no communal angle to it.
The video shows an activist from the Bangladesh Chhatra League falling off a building amid a clash with police and anti-quota protesters.
How did we find out the truth?: We divided the video into keyframes using InVID, a video verification extension on Google Chrome.
Performing a reverse image search using Google Lens led us to the same video on Facebook, where a user shared it on 16 July 2024.
It was shared with a caption in Bangla, which loosely translates to "Sure news... those who were thrown from the roof in Chittagong were all BCL workers!"
The video was shared on 16 July.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
News reports: Using the keywords "students falling from building Chittagong" led us to news reports which carried a close-up shot of the incident, which gave us more information about the video.
During the incident seen in the video, at least 15 activists from the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) were reported to have been thrown from a six-storey building while clashing with students protesting for quota reform in Chittagong, Bangladesh, as per the Dhaka Tribune.
The report mentioned that the incident took place in Chittagong (or Chattogram), not Dhaka.
(Source: Dhaka Tribune/Screenshot)
Citing sources, the report mentioned that "protesters severely beat up Chhatra League leaders and activists" who had taken shelter on top of the building called Mir Manzil in Chittagong's Muradpur area.
However, the BCL members were beaten on the roof of the building too, after which they tried to escape by climbing down the building's pipes.
Some of those trying to escape were beaten, and fell off the building, while "others were allegedly thrown from the sixth floor," the report added.
Another report by The Daily Star mentioned the timeline of events.
It mentioned that BCL activists threw "brick chunks and flower pots" at protesters, adding that their correspondents had witnessed the incident on the ground.
Protesters then stormed the building and "beat up" the BCL workers, while also pelting stones at them.
Amid the pelting, "at least two" activists fell off the building, the report said.
The Daily Star's correspondents witnessed the incident on the ground, the organisation said.
(Source: The Daily Star/Screenshot)
Conclusion: A video showing a clash between quota reform protesters and Bangladesh Chhatra League activists is being shared to falsely claim that it showed Hindu students being targeted members of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Dhaka.
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