The image has no relation with the present. The image is not from Vienna. It shows Boris Yeltsin supporters rallying in Moscow in 1991 on the eve of the fall of U.S.S.R.
Massive protests broke out in Austria after the country imposed a nationwide lockdown and mandated vaccines for its entire adult population. In this context, an image of a sea of protestors is going viral on social media claiming it is of the ongoing anti-lockdown protest in Austria. The users claim that the video shows all the vaccinated and unvaccinated people protesting together against the lockdown in Vienna. Vienna is the capital city of Austria.
The caption of the image mentions, “Go Vienna! Vaccinated and unvaccinated standing together for what is right! Absolutely horrendous what’s happening out there!”
Fact Check-
We started our investigation by running a Google reverse image search, whose results led us to the stock images published by AP Images. The website describes the image to be from Moscow captured in 1991. Thousands of protestors at that time demanded the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and his fellow Communists give up power on 10 March 1991. A photographer named Dominique Mollard took the photo.
The caption of the images states, “Hundreds of thousands of protesters pack Moscow’s Manezh Square next to the Kremlin, Sunday, March 10, 1991, demanding the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and his fellow Communists give up power. The crowd, estimated at 500,000 was the biggest anti-government demonstration in the 73 years since the Communists took power, and came a week before the nationwide referendum on Gorbachev’s union treaty. (AP Photo/Dominique Mollard)”
We found a similar image on another stock image website named Getty Images. According to the description of the image, it shows Pro-Boris Yeltsin supporters gather at a rally on March 10, 1991 in Moscow.
The caption of the image mentions, “MOSCOW, SOVIET UNION – MARCH 10: Pro-Boris Yeltsin supporters gather at a rally on March 10, 1991 in Moscow, Soviet Union. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)”
Next, we searched for Manezh Square in Moscow on Google Maps and compared the street view image to the viral image and found that the viral image was taken in Moscow.
Conclusion-
Fact Crescendo found the viral image on social media to be False. The image does not show anti lockdown protest in Vienna. The image shows pro Boris rally in 1991 at Moscow. The image has no relation with the present or the increasing Covid crisis.
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Title:30 year old image from Moscow shared as anti-lockdown protest in Vienna.
Fact Check By: Aavya RayResult: False
