Three-year-old Awami League rally photo passed off as Student’s League strike scene
A photograph has been circulated on Facebook claiming to show scenes from the November 10 strike called by the Bangladesh Chhatra League (Bangladesh Student’s League). However, a Dismislab fact-check found that the image is not from any recent event. It actually shows a procession held on October 28, 2023, ahead of an Awami League rally.
On November 10, a Facebook page named Bengali Journal, which identifies itself as a news outlet, published a photo card. The photo card shows several people marching with sticks and objects resembling boat oars in their hands. The post read, “A procession in the capital with slogans of Joy Bangla during the Chhatra League strike, carrying boat oars. A message of Sheikh Hasina’s return.” The photo card carried the date November 10, 2026, indicating when the procession supposedly took place. By the time this report was published, the photo card had been shared nearly 500 times and received 7,700 reactions.
To verify the image, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search and found a report published by the daily newspaper The Daily Ittefaq. Published on October 28, 2023, the report was headlined, “Awami League leaders and activists head to rally carrying sticks and boat oars.” The image used in that report exactly matches the one featured in Bengali Journal’s photo card.
According to The Daily Ittefaq report, on October 28, Awami League units in Dhaka North and Dhaka South organised a peace and development rally at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in the capital. Awami League leaders and activists were heading to the rally from areas surrounding Dhaka, carrying sticks and boat oars. This means that the scene circulated as a procession during the November 10 strike called by the Chhatra League is actually from a procession held ahead of the Awami League rally on October 28, 2023.
Incidentally, the banned organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League called for a nationwide strike on November 10 over an eight-point list of demands. Dismislab has published multiple fact-check reports on false images and videos circulated as scenes from the strike.
