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Tag: alleged rape

  • Old protest footage falsely linked to ethnic violence in Bangladesh

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    Clashes between security forces and Bangladesh’s indigenous community protesting the alleged rape of a girl left three people dead in late September. However, a video circulating in Burmese social media posts does not show soldiers shooting at demonstrators in the South Asian country’s southeastern region bordering Myanmar — the footage was in fact taken in the capital Dhaka during mass unrest that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

    “Now Bangladesh army shot the public in Guimara, Chittagong, Bangladesh. The video of Bangladesh army opened fire on protesters emerges,” reads the Burmese-language caption to a video shared on Facebook on September 29.

    Guimara is an area in Bangladesh’s Khagrachari district, located in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region bordering Myanmar.

    The 30-second footage shows soldiers lying in a row on the ground with guns pointed at people in the distance, while gunshots can also be heard.

    Screenshot taken on October 6, 2025 of the false post with an X marked by AFP

    The video was repeatedly shared on Facebook by users in neighbouring Myanmar with similar claims after three people were killed during clashes between security forces and protesters in Khagrachari district (archived link).

    The unrest was triggered by the alleged rape of a schoolgirl in an area that has long been a flashpoint between Indigenous communities and Bengali-speakers, with clashes breaking out over land and resources.

    However, the video is old and unrelated to the recent violence.

    Reverse image searches and keyword searches on Google found the same clip in a report by Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, uploaded to YouTube on July 24, 2024 (archived link). The circulating clip corresponds to the YouTube video’s 30-second mark.

    The title reads, “Bangladesh curfews, internet blackout batter economy amid quota protests”.

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (L) to the Al Jazeera video </span>

    Screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (L) to the Al Jazeera video

    Bangladesh’s student-led movement began in July 2024, with hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters clashing with security forces in the worst unrest of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule (archived link).

    Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations (archived link).

    Further reverse image searches found a similar photo of the row of soldiers published on British photo agency Alamy, dated July 20, 2024 with a caption that states it was taken in the capital Dhaka (archived link).

    The shops and buildings seen in both the Al Jazeera video and the photo on Alamy match Google Street View imagery of a Dhaka neighbourhood, 180 kilometres (112 miles) from Khagrachari (archived link).

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the Al Jazeera video (L) and the Google Maps' Street View imagery, with matching features highlighted by AFP </span>

    Screenshot comparison of the Al Jazeera video (L) and the Google Maps’ Street View imagery, with matching features highlighted by AFP

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  • Videos show unrest in Nepal and Indonesia, not Bangladesh

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    Three people were shot dead after protests erupted in Bangladesh’s southeast border region with India over the alleged rape of a schoolgirl, but two videos showing protests scenes circulating on social media are not from the south Asian country. The clips were in fact taken during earlier demonstrations in Nepal and Indonesia.

    “Attacking the army and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in violation of Section 144 and looting weapons,” reads the Bengali-language caption to a 4-second clip shared on Facebook on September 28, 2025.

    It shows people filming and following a man holding a weapon along a street.

    The same clip was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook after protests by indigenous communities erupted in Bangladesh’s southeastern Khagrachari district over the alleged rape of a schoolgirl (archived link).

    Three men were shot dead and dozens injured in the unrest, which prompted authorities to impose a law banning “unlawful assembly” for eight days until October 5 (archived link).

    Screenshot of the false post, taken October 2, 2025

    A second clip showing another chaotic nighttime protest scene, with explosions and police cars driving down a crowded street, also surfaced on September 27 on Facebook. The post claimed it depicted the unrest in Khagrachari.

    <span>Screenshot of the false post, taken October 2, 2025</span>

    Screenshot of the false post, taken October 2, 2025

    The region has long been a flashpoint between Indigenous communities and Bengali-speakers, with clashes breaking out over land and resources.

    Bangladesh’s interior ministry chief claimed weapons from “outside the country” were fuelling the violence, while the army’s public relations wing in a statement accused the the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), a holdout rebel faction, of instigating the violence and firing hundreds of shots (archived link).

    On October 1, local media reported that no evidence of rape was found by a government medical board examination of the schoolgirl, but an indigenous group said the medical report was “fabricated” (archived link).

    However, none of the circulating clips were taken in Bangladesh, they instead show scenes from protests in Nepal and Indonesia.

    A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the first falsely shared clip matches the beginning of a longer video on YouTube published on September 27, 2025 (archived link).

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the YouTube video (right)</span>

    Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the YouTube video (right)

    The video’s caption links the footage to Nepal’s “Gen Z” protests, which began with demonstrations against a social media ban on September 8 and erupted into wider discontent over corruption and ultimately ousted the Himalayan country’s government (archived link).

    AFP found the scene corresponds to Google Street View imagery of an area outside a police station along Ring Road in Kathmandu (archived link).

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and Google Street View imagery of Kathmandu (right), with corresponding features highlighted by AFP</span>

    Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and Google Street View imagery of Kathmandu (right), with corresponding features highlighted by AFP

    The second falsely shared video corresponds to footage shared in a compilation on Instagram on August 30, 2025 (archived link).

    The Indonesian-language caption states the footage shows a protest in Solo, a city in central Java officially known as Surakarta, on August 29, 2025.

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the Instagram video (right)</span>

    Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the Instagram video (right)

    Further keyword and reverse image search found another YouTube video posted on August 29 captioned “chaos at Solo protest”, showing the same incident from a different angle (archived link).

    Protests broke out across Indonesia in late-August, sparked by discontent over economic inequality and lavish perks for lawmakers and intensified by the killing of a young delivery driver by a paramilitary police unit (archived link). At least 10 people were killed, and hundreds injured.

    Buildings and roadside decorations seen in the circulating video correspond to Google Maps Street View imagery along Slamet Riyadi Street in Surakarta (archived link).

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