Video from UAE shared as building set on fire in France.

A fire accident video from UAE is being shared as Muslims rioting and setting buildings on fire in France.

A series of civil disturbances in France began on 27 June 2023 following the killing of Nahel Merzouk by a police officer. In Nanterre, residents started a protest outside the police headquarters on 27 June, which later escalated into rioting as demonstrators set cars alight, destroyed bus stops, and shot fireworks at police.

Amidst this, social media witnessed several unrelated videos claiming to show riots and unrest in France. One such video showing a huge skyscraper engulfed in fire is widely circulating on social media. Users claim that the video shows a building set of fire by Muslim rioters in France. However, Fact Crescendo found the viral claim to be False.

The caption of the viral post states, “Alerts In France – Media shutdown, complete censorship in France and ban on all reporting. Every building is being set on fire by Muslim rioters, shops are being looted. But I want to know, will this tower collapse like the World Trade Center Towers of 9/11? ” 

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by breaking the viral video into small key frames with the help of Invid WeVerify tool. The results led us to an Instagram post published by Ajmanpoliceghq on 27 June 2023. The caption of the post states that the video is from a fire accident at Ajman One tower in UAE. Civil defense and police were able to control the situation and rescue everyone without casualties at the time it was reported. The accident happened on 26 June 2023.

Keeping the above information in mind, we ran a keyword search on Google, whose results led us to a new published by the Khaleej Times on 27 June 2023. The report states, a massive fire that had broken out in a residential building in Ajman, UAE.  

The incident occurred in Tower 02 of the Ajman One complex. Civil defence and police teams were able to control and extinguish the blaze that engulfed one part of the residential building.  A total of 64 apartments and ten vehicles have been damaged as a result of the blaze.

Ajman Police also issued a clarification about the residents residing in tower 2 at Ajman on their Instagram accounts. Police said that 256 people immediately transferred residents in Amhara hotels in coordination with the Emirati Red Crescent and the Charitable Works Association and provided 7 buses in cooperation with the Transport Authority, overseeing the efforts to restore electricity to the tower in coordination with the Civil Defense, to be able to return residents to their undamaged apartments.

The Gulf News also reported this incident. This Telegraph also published the viral video on their YouTube channel stating that it shows a massive fire incident at a tower block in UAE.

Thus, it is clear that the viral video shows a recent fire accident in UAE and had no relation with the ongoing unrest in France.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the viral video is False. The video shows a recent fire accident in a building in Ajman, UAE. The video has no relation with the ongoing unrest and riots in France.