Fact Check: Videos Of Church Fire, Burning Car Yard Unrelated To France Violence

New Delhi Vishvas News – In the wake of recent violence in France following the killing of a young man in police firing, certain videos have gone viral on social media platforms, falsely claiming their connection to the ongoing unrest in France. 

The first of two videos that we are fact-checking here shows a burning church, while the second video shows a car parking yard engulfed in flames. Vishvas News found both claims to be fake. The first video is indeed from France but is old, and the second video is from Australia.

What’s in the viral post?

The claim with the video showing a burning church reads: “A cathedral which stood bombardments during both world wars and was standing tall since several hundred years untill yesterday was burnt down by peaceful community of illegal immigrants who came to #France seeking asylum and now doing all loot, arson and jihad. #FranceOnFire.”

The video and its archive link can be seen here.

The claim with the car yard video is: “#French protesters reportedly set fire to parking lot. – Here it is, a successful democratic country – Nightmare! #FranceRiots #FranceHasFallen #franceViolence #Frankreich #Francia #frankreichriots #franceViolence #FranceOnFire #FranceProtest #frenchriots #franceburning”

The video and its archive link can be seen here.

Investigation:

We conducted a thorough investigation of both these claims separately.

First, we investigated the church video. We used Google reverse image search and found a news report on the British news portal Sky News dated July 19, 2020. According to the report, the video shows the 15th-century Gothic cathedral of Nantes, which caught fire on July 19, 2020.

Upon investigation, we found more media reports confirming that a volunteer from Paris named Emmanuel Abayisenga set fire to the 15th-century Gothic cathedral, and he was sentenced to four years in prison for arson during a hearing on March 30, 2023. According to his lawyers. The reason why he did this was related to a deportation notice. 

Next, we checked the second video.

We used Google reverse image and found the full video on the YouTube channels of multiple news organisations. According to the description accompanying the video uploaded on news outlet Sky News Australia’s YouTube channel on April 29, 2023, the video originates from Perth, Australia, where “dozens of cars were destroyed in an auction yard fire”.

The same video was found on news portal Seven News Australia’s YouTube channel on April 29, 2023, with the same claim that it occurred in Perth, Australia, where the auction yard caught fire.

We reached out to JP Ranjan, a journalist covering international news at Dainik Jagran, who affirmed that both these videos are unrelated to the ongoing violence in France. It is worth noting that tension arose following the killing of a teenager in France in police firing. According to reports, the violence has since subsided, but the situation remains sensitive. Detailed information on this matter can be found in this news report.

The video of the burning church was uploaded by a Twitter user named ‘Amitabh Choudhary’ with a false claim. The user has over 6,000 followers on Twitter. Similarly, the video of the burning vehicles was shared by a Facebook user named ‘Ademi Adams’, who has over 3,000 followers.