Video of protesters blocking Indian Army convoy mistakenly shared as ‘Bangladesh unrest’

After an outbreak of ethnic violence in eastern Bangladesh in September, a video was viewed millions of times on social media that falsely claimed it showed women from minority groups blocking army vehicles in the country. But the video predates recent unrest in Bangladesh, and Indian media say it shows women from the Meitei ethnic group in India’s Manipur state protesting against arrests by the army there.

“The Bangladesh Army is doing the right job. I am surprised by their (women’s) courage. I thought they wouldn’t move. Later I see them running away before the vehicles start moving,” reads a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on September 24, 2024.

The nearly two-minute clip included in the post, which has been viewed over six million times, shows women lying on a road blocking an army convoy.

The video surfaced online after reports of clashes between tribal groups and Bengali-speaking communities in the Chittagong Hill Tract region of eastern Bangladesh on September 20, 2024.

The Bangladesh military said troops opened fire after a tribal group fired on them during ethnic violence in the remote border region. Authorities and witnesses said at least four people were killed (archived link).

The video was shared on Facebook along with similar false claims here and here.

But the video predates the recent violence in eastern Bangladesh.

Indian Army convoy

A Google reverse image search of a key frame from the video found the footage published on X on April 30, 2024 – five months before the violence in Bangladesh – and watermarked “ISTV News”, a Manipur-based television channel .

A search using “ISTV News” found a video posted on the ISTV Live YouTube channel and linked to the ISTV News website. The video’s rating of 6.34 to 7.57 corresponds to the footage shared in the false posts (archived link).

A keyword search found a report published by India Today on May 1, 2024 about a group of Meitei women blocking Indian Army vehicles in Manipur the day before to protest the detention of 11 armed men (archived link) .

In May 2023, an ethnic conflict broke out in Manipur between the state’s predominantly Hindu Meitei ethnic majority and the state’s predominantly Christian Kuki community, with at least 200 people killed since then.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the fake posts (left) and the one from ISTV News (right):

Additionally, at the 1:35 mark of the video, a logo could be seen on one of the vehicles in the fake posts. A military official serving in Manipur told AFP the logo belonged to the Indian Army’s 57th Mountain Division.

The official shared a news report by Indian media organization ANI News about an event organized by the Army in Manipur in which a banner with the same logo can be seen (archived link).

Below is a screenshot of the Army logo in the video (left) and the corresponding logo from the ANI News report (right):

AFP has already debunked several claims about the unrest in Manipur state here and here.