Video of Villagers Chasing Cops Shared With False Anti-Vaxx Spin

The villagers were attacking cops who had come to stop a fair taking place amid COVID lockdown protocols.

A video of villagers attacking authorities has gone viral on social media with the false claim that locals in India were seen chasing away COVID testing and vaccination squads.

We found that the video dates back to 23 April and is from Jharkhand’s Bamni village in Nimdih. A mob had attacked local cops trying to stop a fair, which was being held despite the lockdown protocols amid the surge in COVID cases.

CLAIM

The video was shared with the caption, “#INDIA: Villagers chase out the testing & vaccination squads. They see through the V-fraud! (sic)” by a Twitter account in the name of a London-based architect, Robin Monotti Graziadei.

The video had garnered over 3,38,200 views, 6,300 likes and 4,400 retweets at the time of writing this article,

Another user had garnered over 1,000 views. An archived version of the claim can be viewed here.

Archived versions of similar claims on Facebook can be viewed here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A text imposed on the viral video reads, “नीमडीह प्रखंड के बमनी गांव की घटना” (Translation: “Incident of Bamni village in Nimdih block”).

The Nimdih block is situated in the Saraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand. Taking a hint from this, we performed a reverse image search with relevant keywords and came across a report by NDTV, carrying the viral clip.

According to the report, local cops had gone to stop a fair, which was taking place despite stringent lockdown protocols. However, the villagers in return, thrashed and pelted stones at the local administration and cops.

A report by Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran states that the Block Development Officer Mukesh Kumar, the Nimdih station in-charge Mo Ali Akbar and another police officer were injured in the clash. Nine people have been arrested in the case and a FIR has been lodged against 40.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren had imposed a week-long lockdown in the state from 22 April to 29 April, which has now been extended and prohibits such large gatherings from taking place.

India Today, Navbharat Times, and ABP News have also reported on the incident.

Evidently, a video of villagers breaking lockdown protocols and attacking police officials has been shared with a false claim to further the anti-vaccine narrative.

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