Social media users discussing August fuel hike protests in Bangladesh have mistakenly shared unrelated footage from 2013, suggesting it is from 2022, according to the Reuters Fact Check team.
The video shows people looking at objects on fire in the street and launching projectiles, as well as police officers deploying tear gas.
“Bangladesh… protests and hard clashes have erupted in several cities after the government has decided to increase petrol prices by 51 percent and diesel by 42 percent effective midnight…. Huge lines are reported at petrol stations all over Bangladesh,” wrote one Twitter user who shared the video on August 7.
A Facebook post said: “Bangladesh protests and hard clashes have erupted in several cities after the government has decided to increase petrol and diesel prices.”
Bangladesh increased fuel prices by more than 50 percent on August 6, a move that will trim the country’s subsidy burden but put more pressure on inflation.
People have indeed been protesting against the hike. However, a reverse image search shows that the video is not related to the 2022 demonstrations. It can be traced back to May 2013 and a violent protest against an anti-blasphemy law in Bangladesh.
On May 6, 2013, at least 20 Bangladeshis were killed in clashes between police and Islamists who were demanding religious reforms.
The clashes began on May 5 after 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press demands that critics said would amount to the “Talibanisation” of a country that maintains secularism as state policy.
However, the protesters were met by lines of police firing teargas and rubber bullets, the Reuters Fact Check team said.
Source: United News of Bangladesh