Claim: A video shows thousands of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protesters marching towards Islamabad.
Fact: The video actually shows supporters of Pope Francis welcoming him to East Timor.
On 25 November 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a video (archive) of a convoy of protesters heading towards Islamabad. The post is captioned, “BREAKING: #PakistanArmy cancels all #Soldiers’ leave as lakhs of PTI supporters march towards Islamabad against Shehbaz Sharif’s regime and Gen. #AsimMunir.
Another massacre by Pakistan Army seems imminent.”
PTI Protests
On 26 November 2024, thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan gathered in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, staging protests and demanding the release of the former prime minister as well as his jailed supporters, along with the rollback of constitutional amendments.
Pakistani authorities placed shipping containers to block protestors’ entry into the capital while social media platforms faced disruptions amid the protests. According to news reports, security forces also fired teargas at the protestors.
The authorities arrested approximately 1,000 protestors as of 27 November. Some sources report that clashes between security forces and demonstrators have killed eight, including four security personnel and four protestors, and several others have been injured. However, exact numbers of deaths and injuries are difficult to verify at this time due to the ongoing internet shutdown in the capital.
Amnesty International has called for a “prompt, thorough, impartial, effective and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters as well as the unlawful use of force including lethal and less-lethal weapons by security personnel.”
By Wednesday, Khan’s party announced a temporary suspension of protests in Islamabad calling for his release.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse-image search on TinEye and Yandex but found no results. However, Google Lens led us to several social media posts of the viral video from September 2024, well before the November PTI protests.
The same video circulated on Indian social media during a protest in September 2024. Former MP Imtiaz Jaleel of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen led the protest, rallying over 12,000 members of the Muslim community to demand action against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitesh Rane and preacher Ramgiri Maharaj for their alleged hate speeches. Screenshots of the video were also found in a report by the All India Media Association on 24 September 2024.
We found the video was also found on African social media in multiple posts. The posts claimed it showed crowds of people welcoming Pope Francis during his September 2024 visit to East Timor.
According to our searches, this claim is true as reports by AFP FactCheck and NewsMeter confirmed that the video is, in fact, from East Timor.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found on X here and here.
We also found the video on YouTube here and here.
Conclusion: The viral video does not depict PTI protesters marching towards Islamabad. It is actually from September and shows crowds gathering to welcome Pope Francis during his visit to East Timor.
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