Unrelated old video spreads claiming it shows BSL procession on “National Mourning Day”
A video circulated on social media claiming that the Bangladesh Students’ League (BSL), the student wing of Awami League, held a procession in front of Dhanmondi 32 on “National Mourning Day”. However, Dismislab’s fact-check finds the video is old. It actually shows a scene from a protest program by Awami League leaders and activists in 2024, after the suspension of the court verdict declaring “Joy Bangla” as the national slogan.
On August 14, a Facebook page named Gurudaspur Upazila Jubo League shared a 15-second video carrying the logo of Kaler Kantho. The caption read, “At this moment, on the occasion of National Mourning Day, BSL procession in front of house 32, Dhanmondi! Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.” The video has been shared over a hundred times. The same video with the same claim has also been posted from several other Facebook pages and profiles (1, 2, 3, 4).
A keyframe search of the video shows that the same footage had been shared earlier on January 6, 2025, from a Facebook page named Sany Vai. That post also mentioned slogans of “Joy Bangla” in front of Dhanmondi 32. But the footage didn’t belong to that day either.
To learn more, keywords from the video caption were searched online. A 6:08-minute video was found on the YouTube channel of Kaler Kantho, uploaded on December 13, 2024.
The caption of that video said, “Awami League activists held a flash rally on Friday early morning, chanting ‘Joy Bangla’ slogans.” The footage from 2:51 to 3:06 matches exactly with the recently circulated clip. The full video shows Awami League leaders and activists marching in Dhanmondi 32, chanting “Joy Bangla.” At that time, several online news outlets (1, 2, 3, 4) also published reports on the event.
Notably, the High Court suspended the verdict declaring “Joy Bangla” as the national slogan on December 10, 2024. In protest, Awami League leaders and activists had marched in front of Dhanmondi 32.
The video of that eight-month-old procession is now being shared on social media with the false claim that it shows a BSL procession on Mourning Day.
It may be noted that on August 15, 1975, Sheikh Muhibur Rahman and most of his family members were assassinated by some disgruntled army soldiers. In her first term as prime minister in 1996, Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, declared the day as the National Morning Day. After her ouster in August last year, the interim government on August 13, 2024, cancelled the observance of the day along with many commemorative dates.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on August 15, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
