Viral video of protest in Iran is not recent, it dates back to 2022
A video showing a large crowd of people advancing down a street and throwing objects at a vehicle with flashing blue and red lights is going viral on social media. The caption alongside the video says “Today Iran is kicking off, Iranian people defending themselves against the oppressive armed forces of the Islamic dictatorship in Iran.”
Let’s check the truth
Fact Check
We started our investigation by running a reverse image search along with a relevant keyword search on Google. The results led us to the same video uploaded on a video report by Independent TV, dated 22 September, 2022. According to the report, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, the protesters rushed towards a police vehicle in Amol, Iran. She had been detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly wearing a loosely-fitted hijab. While authorities claimed she died of a heart attack, her family challenged this account. This indicates that the viral video is old.
Keeping this in mind, we ran another keyword search that led us to multiple news reports about this incident. Thousands of people protested following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran, Iran. On September 16, Ms. Amini – also known by her Kurdish name, Jina Amini – died after being detained by so-called ‘morality police’ for allegedly not following the country’s dress code while visiting the capital city.
Moving forward, we found the same video on Twitter also, and it was uploaded on 22 September 2022 with a caption, “In Iran, protesters are overwhelming riot police protesting the death of Mahsa Amini”.
Mahsa Amini’s death triggered widespread protests that continued in Iran into January and February 2023, and led to the deaths of more than 500 protesters and thousands of arrests, according to Iran human rights organisation. So, we can understand that an old video of protest in Iran shared as recent.
Conclusion-
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. The viral Video of protest in Iran is not recent, but from protests in Iran in 2022, following the death of Mahsa Amini.