July Uprising protest march falsely portrayed as recent Awami League rally in Dhaka
A video claiming a massive procession of Awami League activists and supporters in Dhaka has spread on Facebook. However, Dismislab’s fact-check reveals the original video shows a student-led mass protest in Rajshahi in August 2024 demanding Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
On December 13, a Facebook page shared a video on social media. The text inside the video read, “Huge Chhatra League march in Dhaka with 10 lakh activists and supporters! Administration loses sleep!”. The caption said, “Administration bewildered seeing the massive Awami League march!”
The same video was posted on another Facebook page, with the text, “Long March to Jamuna! The administration trembles seeing this march!” The video has attracted 20,000 views and over 300 shares so far.
The 17-second video shows a large number of people marching forward on both sides of the road, chanting slogans. While the subject of their protest is unclear, the slogan ‘Jalo Jalo Agun Jalo’ (set the fire, set the fire) is heard clearly.
Reverse image search using keyframes of the circulated video led to a video posted on the verified Facebook page of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on August 4, 2024.
Its caption read, “Rajshahi under the control of students and masses… August 4, 2024, Sunday: Students and masses protest on the streets of Rajshahi, responding to the call for an anti-discrimination movement, to press home the one-point demand for the resignation of the autocratic murderer Hasina.” The description also used hashtags like ‘July_Genocide,’ ‘Hasina_Fall_Movement,’ ‘Oust_Hasina,’ ‘Discrimination,’ ‘Student_Murder,’ ‘Student_Masses_Murder,’ ‘Quota_Reform,’ and ‘Student_Protest.’ The scene from 59 seconds to 1 minute 15 seconds of the 3-minute video exactly matches the scene in the widely circulated video.
A video report published on the ATN Bangla YouTube channel on August 4, 2024, showed scenes of the march from the same location. The video title read, “Students’ march on the streets of Rajshahi demanding the 1-point agenda.” Further verification through various keyword searches revealed multiple news reports (1, 2, 3) from different media outlets on the incident.
According to a Bangla Tribune report published on August 4 last year concerning this matter, teachers, students, guardians, and people from all walks of life in Rajshahi took to the streets to protest the July Genocide. The protesters demanded that Hasina quit power.
Therefore, the claim regarding a massive march of Awami League activists and supporters in Dhaka is false. The original video showed a student-led mass protest in Rajshahi in August 2024, to press home the one-point demand for Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
