Video claiming Awami League stood like banyan tree during strike is old

A video has circulated on Facebook claiming that the activity-banned party Awami League stood on the road like a banyan tree during a strike called by the banned Chhatra League (student wing of the Awami League). And it is being said that police and Awami League leaders and activists took a face-to-face stance. However, a verification by Dismislab reveals that the video is old. The video was also seen published on social media on November 3, claiming to be of a garment workers’ protest in Hemayetpur, Savar.

On November 10, a video was posted from a Facebook profile, reading, “In Bangladesh, police and Awami are face-to-face, Awami League is standing on the road like a banyan tree. Successful successful strike.” The video was posted with the same claim from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) personal Facebook profiles. In the video, police members are seen standing on one side of the road, and a gathering of many people on the other side.

To verify the authenticity, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using the keyframes of the video. This led to a video published on November 3 on a YouTube channel named “Kawsar Green Farm.” The headline of the video was, “Garment workers protest Savar Hemayetpur.” The scenes of this video match the circulated video. The billboard and pedestrian bridge present in the video match the scenes of the circulated video. However, while slogans can be heard in the circulated video, they are absent in the previously published video.

That is to say, the video promoted with the claim of being a strike scene is old. The video has been available on social media since at least November 3.

It is to be noted that on November 10, the banned organization Bangladesh Chhatra League called for a nationwide strike.