Old video falsely claimed as 11-party alliance's long march
Last Saturday, during the first phase of the 11-party alliance’s long march, an old video was circulated on Facebook as footage from the program. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the video is at least seven months old.
A video was posted on Facebook with the caption, “Someone was saying there are no people at the long march.” The video was posted from a profile on Sept. 5. It shows a large gathering of people chanting slogans. The slogans are: “Amra shobai Hadi hobo/Juge juge lore jabo” (We will become Hadi/will fight for the ages), “Gulir mukhe kotha kobo/Amra shobai Hadi hobo” (Will speak in front of gun/We will become Hadi), “Naraye takbir/Allahu akbar,” “Inqilab inqilab/Zindabad zindabad” (Long live revolution), “Mujibbad murdabad/Murdabad murdabad” (Death to Mujibism). By the time the report was published, the video had been shared more than 1,000 times.
The same video was posted by several other users (1, 2) with the same caption.
To verify the video’s authenticity, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search. This led to a video posted on Instagram on Jan. 26 of this year, whose scenes are identical to those of the video circulated in connection with the long march. The caption of the Instagram post read, “The shorter the life of martyr Osman Hadi, the greater his purpose. Even future generations, if they wanted to, could not forget martyr Hadi’s sacrifice and blood.”
Additionally, the same video was posted on Aug. 8 in a group named “Dr. Shafiqul Islam Masud,” with the caption, “Today is a historic, memorable Friday.. Marking this historic Friday, we remember the hero of the struggle against Indian hegemony, ‘martyr Sharif Osman Hadi’ brother.”
In other words, the video is not footage from any recent event. Media reports indicate that on Sept. 5 (Saturday), the 11-party alliance began its “long march” program from Dhaka toward Chattogram after a rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel.
For context, the 11-party alliance has announced long march programs in four divisions. According to the announcement, the alliance began its long march toward Chattogram after a rally last Saturday (Sept. 5) morning. The alliance is also set to hold long marches toward Rangpur on Sept. 19, Khulna on Oct. 10, and Sylhet on Oct. 24.
