This video does not show mosque being demolished in India or China
A video showing a mosque-like structure being demolished with a bulldozer is circulating on social media with different claims. Some posts suggest it shows a mosque being demolished in India, while others claim it was filmed in China. However, verification confirms that the video is from neither India nor China, and the demolished structure was not a mosque. It was a structure in a park in Indonesia.
The video has been shared on Facebook with captions such as “Indians are demolishing a mosque!” A page named “Motion BD” posted it on March 14, garnering 30,000 views and over 250 shares. The video was also uploaded as a short on the page’s YouTube channel. Similar claims have been made on Instagram, where one user wrote, “Mosques are being demolished in India regularly 😰 If temples were destroyed like this in Bangladesh, not only India but also its local intellectual allies would label this country as extremist and bring it to a standstill.” The video has also spread on YouTube (1, 2, 3) and X (1, 2, 3) with the same claim.
The same video has also been circulated on social media platform X with a different claim. There, it was alleged that the footage showed a mosque being demolished in China. Various accounts posted the video (1, 2, 3, 4) with captions stating, “China officially declares Islam a “mental illness” and is destroying hundreds of Mosques.”
When Dismislab investigated the source of the video, fact-check reports from multiple Indian verification agencies surfaced. According to a fact-check report by The Quint, the video was widely shared on social media on March 11 and 12, claiming it was from Uttarakhand, India. However, the report clarified that “The incident is actually from Indonesia. It shows the demolition of a structure in Hibisc Fantasy Puncak in the West Java province.”
Multiple videos of this structure being demolished can be found online. A keyword search reveals that the video is also available on TikTok with the caption, “Day 2 of the eviction operation at Hibisc Tourist Center in Puncak, Bogor.” The caption also clarifies that the structure is not a mosque but a fantasy park. Footage of the demolition was also aired in a report by the Indonesian television channel Kompas TV. Verification confirms that Hibisc Fantasy Puncak is a theme park. The park’s official Instagram account posted a video on January 23, showing the same structure.
A CNN Indonesia report published on March 10 stated, “Hibisc Fantasy was previously shut down due to environmental regulation violations and flooding downstream in the Ciliwung River. The tourist center is located in the middle of the Ciliwung River.” According to the report, the eviction was carried out under the direction of West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi. This confirms that the video does not show a mosque demolition in India or China.
It is worth noting that mosque demolitions have occurred in India. In December 2024, local authorities in Uttar Pradesh partially demolished the 185-year-old Noori Jama Masjid. In May 2021, the Gareeb Nawaz Al Maroof mosque was also demolished in the same state. Additionally, amid the ongoing Holi festival, authorities in Uttar Pradesh have covered nearly a dozen mosques with tarpaulins.
