No, Raj Thackeray Did Not Inspire Frenchmen’s Protest Against Muslim Street prayers

A video of a people singing the French national anthem in front of Muslim men offering prayers on the road is going viral. Users have been sharing the viral video claiming Frenchmen followed the advice of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray to protest against Muslim street prayers. 

Raj Thackeray is in the news recently for his hardline stand against loudspeakers in the mosques. He gave an ultimatum to the state government to remove the loudspeakers from all mosques or his followers would sing Hanuman Chalisa (Hindu religious chant) in front of mosques. 

We found that the viral video is five-years-old and unrelated to Raj Thackeray’s recent comments against loudspeakers in mosques. 

WHAT’S THE CLAIM?

A one-minute clip shows a group of Frenchmen singing the National anthem while Muslims holding prayers on the Street. Police officers are also on the spot. 

The caption along with the video reads: RAJ THACKERAY EFFECT IN PARIS…..In Paris, as Muslims pray on roads, blocking streets, they are met with equally loud singing of the French National Anthem by French citizens.

Original post – Twitter | Facebook

MNS general secretary Shalini Thackeray also shared the video with the same claim on Instagram.

FACT CHECK

Using keywords, we found this video is available on the Internet for the past many years. So, the video is not the recent one. 

A French news website, The Local, reported that the video was from the Paris suburb of Clichy. 

Rémi Muzeau, the right-wing mayor of Clichy, had led the protest march against Muslims holding Friday prayers in the public square of Clichy. 60 elected officials, including councillors and MPs mainly of the centre-right Republicans and UDI parties, disrupted the Friday prayer of 200 Muslim worshippers near Town Hall on 10 November 2017.

Associated Press had uploaded the video of the incident on YouTube. 

BBC also covered the news at the time. The politicians, wearing tricolour sashes of office and singing the national anthem, argued that the prayers are an unacceptable use of public space in France’s strictly secular system.

“Public space cannot be taken over in this way,” said Valérie Pécresse, president of the Paris regional council told BBC.

Muslim worshippers were holding Friday prayers on the street in protest against the town’s decision to close a prayer hall.

CONCLUSION

Thus, the video is from 2017 when the Mayor of the Paris Suburb Clichy protest against Muslim street prayers. It has no relation to MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s ongoing call for removing loudspeakers in mosques.

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