Claim: A video of demonstrators gathering around Information Minister for the new PML-N government Marriyum Aurangzeb is being shared with the claim that it shows people gathered around Aurangzeb at an airport to protest against the recent regime change in Pakistan.
Fact: The video is, in fact, from a press conference held by Aurangzeb on 6 March 2021, when Aurangzeb was a member of the opposition and PML-N spokesperson.
Fact or fiction?
A video showing a large crowd gathered around Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has been shared with the following caption:
تم کتنے پرچے کاٹو گے ہر گھر سے عمران خان نکلے گا. مفتاح کے بعد مظاہرین کا مریم اورنگزیب کا فقیدالمثال استقبال!! چور چور کے فَلک شگاف نعرے
[How many people will you [the government] book and Imran Khan will come out of every home. After Miftah, protestors give a warm welcome to Maryam Aurangzeb with loud chants of thief]
The caption of the video, which has gone viral on social media, suggests that people gathered around Aurangzeb to protest the recent regime change, chanting “chor, chor [thief, thief]”. Posts resharing the video also carried hashtags demanding fresh elections and terming the new government “imported”.
The video is, in fact, from a 6 March 2021 press conference held by Aurangzeb, then a member of the opposition and PML-N spokesperson. Aurangzeb appears to have been manhandled by protestors during the event, prompting a response from former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who can be seen lashing out at protesters in videos of the incident shared online. The incident was widely reported in national media. Parts of the full video were also shared by Imran Khan’s chief of staff Shehbaz Gill here.
Virality
According to a CrowdTangle analysis, on Facebook, the video has been shared 838 times, receiving a cumulative 371,900 interactions. This is the oldest relevant post with the video, albeit without the caption, and this is the Facebook post with the most interactions. The post was also shared here, here, and here.
Posts sharing the video with the false caption were also shared on Twitter, including here, here, and here.
Conclusion: A video showing a large crowd gathered around Information Minister Marriyumyam Aurangzeb, chanting “chor, chor [thief, thief]” is not recent or related to the April ouster of Imran Khan. The video is in fact from a 6 March 2021 conference held by Aurangzeb.