On April 17, 2022, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said that loudspeakers on mosques should be removed by May 3. “Loudspeakers in mosques should be shut till May 3rd otherwise, we will play Hanuman Chalisa in speakers. This is a social issue, not a religious one. I want to tell the state government, we will not go back on this subject, do whatever you want to do,” Hindustan Times quotes the MNS chief as saying.
Following the announcement, a video where people can be seen praying on the roads whilst another group can be seen protesting against it is going viral on social media.
Facebook users are sharing the video with the caption, “RAJ THACKERAY EFFECT IN PARIS…..In Paris, as Muslims pray on roads, blocking streets, they are met with equally loud singing of the French National Anthem by French citizens…”
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim and found it to be misleading.
While analysing the video carefully, we noticed that the banner read ‘STOP AUX PRIÈRES DE RUE ILLÉGALES’. The text translates to ‘stop illegal street prayers’.
We then ran a keyword search along with the Reverse Image Search and found the same video on VK – a Russian online social media and social networking service, dated November 22, 2017.
The same video was also uploaded on YouTube on November 11, 2017.
“And La Marseillaise rings loud,” the translated caption read. ‘La Marseillaise’ is the national anthem of France. Based on this, we then ran another keyword search and found various media reports on the same protest.
“A French mayor and dozens of other MPs and elected councillors from around Paris region sang the Marseillaise on Friday as they marched towards around 200 Muslim worshippers in a bid to stop them praying in the street,” a report by The Local France read.
The report states that 200 Muslim worshippers were observing their Friday prayer outside in protest against the town’s decision to close a prayer hall in Clichy (situated in the northwestern quadrant of Paris).
The same incident was also reported by BBC, DNA, Dainik Bhaskar, Los Angeles Times.
We also found multiple images of the incident on the official website of Getty Images.
NewsMobile debunked the same video in 2020 when it was shared in connection to the beheading of a teacher in the suburbs of Paris.
https://newsmobile.in/articles/2020/10/28/fact-check-old-protest-video-from-paris-falsely-linked-with-recent-beheading-of-a-french-teacher/
Hence, from the above information, it is clear that the video in circulation is old and has no connection to Raj Thackeray’s ultimatum on loudspeakers in mosques.
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