Old video of Kuwait protest viral as deadly explosion in Halal Disco in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Pakistani-Canadian author Tarek Fatah shared a video on Twitter claiming that it depicts explosions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s Halal nightclub. “Explosion last night at the Halal Disco in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Many deaths and many injuries feared. Total ban on media coverage,” read his tweet (archive). In the video, several people, including a child, can be seen running amidst heavy smoke while someone makes an Arabic commentary in the background.

It has been shared by many Facebook users.

In fact, the video has been floating on Facebook since last month.

It has also been massively shared using an Arabic caption propagating the same narrative. “الملهى الليلي “الحلال” في السعودية ينفجر وأنباء عن وفاة العشرات (Halal nightclub in Saudi Arabia explodes and reports of dozens of deaths.)” – reads the caption.

5-year-old video of Kuwait protest

Alt News found that the video was uploaded by an Arabic media outlet Alziadiq8 on July 6, 2014, which described it as protests in Kuwait. This video was identical to the one floating on social media with the exception that it did not carry an Arabic commentary which can be heard in the viral video.

The July 2014 protests in Kuwait was covered by international media. A report by Al Jazeera said that on July 6 more than 2,000 people marched from Kuwait City’s Grand Mosque after evening Ramzan prayers and into the old market to protest the arrest of opposition leader, Musallam al-Barrak. The protesters also demanded the expulsion of corrupt judges. The police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.

The protest was also reported by Indian media.

Tarek Fatah and several social media users shared a five-year-old protest video from Kuwait as an explosion in Halal nightclub in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.