A viral video showing some policemen and other staff members having lunch together on banana leaves is doing the rounds on social media. The post claims that the defence as well as PM’s office staff of the UK celebrating Pongal/Makar Sankranti.
A Facebook user posted the viral video with a caption: *UK defence & PM’s office staff* celebrating Pongal / Makar Sankranti festival.
Via WA A welcome change
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral video and found it to be false.
Conducting a Reverse Image Search of the video keyframes, we identified a quote tweet on an unverified profile, dated January 17, 2023, that matches the viral clip. But the caption informs that the claims made along with the video are fake.
According to the quote tweet, the video is from the Pongal event hosted by the Tamil Association of Waterloo, Canada, for the City Mayor & Police Chief.
The tweet also redirects to a Facebook video from January 15, 2023, published on the official page of Tamil Cultural Association, Waterloo — a group that promotes Tamil culture and events in Waterloo, Canada.
The caption of the video confirms that the lunch was organised in Waterloo, Canada, by the Tamil Cultural Association, on the occasion of Pongal. The event was attended by MPs, Regional Chair City Mayors, councillors, Police Chief, and other staff. We also found an event invite on their page as well.
We also came across a tweet thread about the event by the Mayor of Kitchener — Berry Vrbanovic. Vrbanovic posted pictures from the event and thanked the Tamil Cultural Association for hosting the Pongal lunch.
One of the pictures posted by Vrbanovic matches the visual in the viral video, proving that the lunch was, indeed, hosted in Waterloo, Canada, and not in the UK.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral video’s claim about the Pongal/Makar Sankranti lunch is false.
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