The clip shows worshipers in East Timor after a papal mass, not a protest rally in Pakistan

As authorities in Pakistan tighten security ahead of a planned protest march by Imran Khan’s party, a video has been shared on social media purporting to show thousands of protesters marching towards the capital Islamabad. The clip actually shows Christian worshipers leaving a mass held by Pope Francis during his visit to East Timor in September 2024.

A clipshowing a street full of people and cars, it has garnered more than 114,000 views after it was posted on Facebook on November 24.

“Sea of ​​people towards D-Chowk in Islamabad,” read urdu language summaryrefers to the public square in the city’s government area that houses the Presidential Palace, the prime minister’s office, parliament and the Supreme Court (link saved).

Screenshot of the fake Facebook post, taken on December 3, 2024

The same video and similar claims have been shared elsewhere on Facebook here and here, and on X here and here.

It came as supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan marched in Islamabad, answering his phone for protesters to demand his release, as well as to protest against alleged election interference in February and to oppose a government-backed constitutional amendment giving more powers to the courts (link saved).

Despite a ban on public gatherings, scores of pro-Khan protesters marched into the city, pulling aside roadblocks and clashing with police and soldiers firing rubber bullets and tear gas (archived link).

Police said on November 27 they arrested nearly 1,000 protesters after the crowds were cleared from the city center in a campaign to tighten security (archived link).

The video circulating online, however, does not show the protesters.

AFP has investigated claims that the video shows rallies in the Philippines and India.

Image of East Timor

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a high-quality version that was posted to TikTok on September 11 (archived link).

Hashtags in the captions suggest they were recorded during Pope Francis’ visit to East Timor, where he celebrated mass for hundreds of thousands of the faithful on September 10 (link saved).

About 600,000 of the 1.3 million people who attended the mass, the Vatican said in a statement, citing local officials, the largest number of people who attended the papal event in terms of people outside the Holy See.

Below is a screenshot comparison of a falsely shared clip (left) and a video shared on TikTok in September (right):

Analysis of the video shared on TikTok shows the East Timor flag on street lights and a poster of the pontiff.

The user who shared the video, Rey Marques, a photographer based in the capital Dili, told AFP at the time that he did not know who shot the video but revealed that the incident was near the Raikotu General Cemetery.

AFP confirmed the photo’s location by comparing it to an on-site Google Street View image (archived link).

Below is a screenshot highlighting the house, road and tree in the TikTok video (left) and the corresponding objects in Google Street View (right):

A live broadcast on the Facebook page of the news site TVET Entertainment shows the same crowd scene after the mass (archived link).

AFP has debunked other false allegations related to pro-Khan protests here and here.