Fact Check: Viral Church Fire Video Is From France, Not Manipur
The viral video of the burning church is from France, and the claim associating it with Manipur violence is false.
- By Vishvas News
- Updated: July 22, 2023
New Delhi (Vishvas News) – Amid the ongoing violence in Manipur, a video is circulating on social media showing a burning church building. The viral posts claim that the building is St. Joseph’s Church in Manipur, which was set on fire by protesters.
Vishvas News investigated this claim and found it to be false. In reality, the video of the burning church is from France, not Manipur.
What’s going viral?
The viral video was shared on July 15 by a Facebook user named Dr Vineet Kumar Garg (Archive), along with the misleading caption, originally in Hindi, “#Manipur Sugnu Imphal. Violence arson is not stopping. Pro-BJP militants burnt more than 300 years old St. Joseph’s Church. Manipur has been burning since 74 days.”
Investigation
To investigate this viral claim, we searched the screenshots of the video on Google Reverse Image. We found the screenshot used in a news report on the website of France 3, a well-known French TV channel. According to the report, the fire broke out at L’église Notre-Dame-de Drosnaye, leading to the collapse of the historic wooden church in Marne, France. The cause of the fire is unknown.
The same burning church’s picture was also found in a news report on the French news website bfmtv.com, confirming that the incident occurred in Marne, France, at L’église Notre-Dame-de Drosnay.
We found the images and exact location of Drosnay church on Google Maps, which matches the viral video.
James Khangenbam, a freelance journalist covering the Manipur violence, confirmed that the viral picture has no connection with the ongoing situation in Manipur and is not St. Joseph’s Church in Imphal.
The violence in Manipur is the result of ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities which broke out on May 3, and more than 100 people have lost their lives in the unrest. More information on the ongoing violence in Manipur can be found in news reports here, here, and here.
The video of the burning church was uploaded by a Facebook user named Dr Vineet Kumar Garg with a false claim. User has more than 900 followers.
Conclusion: The viral video of the burning church is from France, and the claim associating it with Manipur violence is false.