Claim: Video shows people in France celebrating after Marine Le Pen’s far-right party National Rally lost the legislative assembly elections in 2024. The caption of the video says, “France will now descend further into an Islamic Caliphate”.
Fact: The video shows demonstrators in Paris, France, protesting against the re-election of the former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, at the Place de la Republique in 2019.
On 8 July 2024, X user @liz_churchill10 posted (archived) a video apparently showing Muslims celebrating the loss of Marine Le Pen far-right party in the France legislative elections held in early July 2024. “Marine Le Pen just lost the French Election as France will now descend further into an Islamic Caliphate. Enjoy your Country while it lasts,” the caption says.
Soch Fact Check also debunked a similar misleading post, which claimed that a video shows Muslims praying on the streets in France to celebrate the left-wing’s lead in the second round of the country’s 2024 elections.
France held its Legislative Assembly elections from 30 June to 7 July. A left-wing coalition New Popular Front won over 180 seats, followed by Emmanuel Macaron’s centrist alliance standing second with nearly 160 seats. National Rally, headed by far-right Marine Le Pen stood third by securing some 140 seats.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found that the video in question had surfaced with misleading claims in 2023, after the killing of a teenage boy by the police in France sparked protests. At the time, several fact-checks debunked the claim that the video shows protests against the killing.
Fact Crescendo, also an IFCN signatory, found that the flag held by demonstrators in the video, with green and white stripes and a crescent and star in the middle, is the Algerian flag, and that it shows “when Algerians residing in France protested against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.”
Soch Fact Check also found news articles that reported on the protest. According to NPR’s report from 3 March 2019, demonstrators in Paris and other cities in France gathered to protest against the former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika staying in power, as he sought re-election for a fifth term in 2019.
The article by Fact Crescendo also cited a video by AFP, from 2019 as evidence. In the video-report titled, “Protest in Paris against a fifth mandate of Algeria’s Bouteflika,” protestors can be seen holding the Algerian flags, similar to the scenes of the viral video on X, and confirms that the demonstration predates the 2024 elections in France.
Another fact-check by Alt News led us toa stock photo of the protest on Alamy. According to the description of the image, the protests were held at “Place de la Republique [sic]” in Paris, on 3 March 2023. Another reverse image search of keyframes from the video in the claim led Soch Fact Check to a Getty Images high-resolution stock photo of the same protest from a different angle, having similarities to the Alamy image, as well as scenes from the video in the claim.
Moreover, fact-checks published by Boom and The Quint also confirm the video shows protests that were held against the former Algerian president in 2019.
Virality
The post on X garnered nearly 1.2 million views.
On X, the video was linked to the outcome of the 2024 elections in France here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
On Instagram, it was shared here and on YouTube here.
Conclusion: The viral video on X does not show people in France celebrating the loss of Marine Le Pen’s party in the 2024 legislative elections. The video is from March 2019 when Algerians in France protested against Abdelaziz Bouteflika, former Algerian president, and his bid to stay in power for a fifth consecutive term, at the time.
Background image in cover photo: The Washington Post
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com