A copy of the Quran was recently set on fire during a demonstration in Norway. It now being claimed on social media, via a video, that an Imam who opposed the burning of the holy book of Islam was attacked by the Norwegian police. The video shows cops and a police dog dragging a man. Several users from Pakistan have shared the clip.
1/2 Norway.
In response of that Imam of this Mosque condemned burning of Quran by non Muslim Norwegian.
As Planned by Govt., some policemen came along with a dog&attacked Imam who was reciting Quran.Policemen beat him vigorously put him on d floor and allowed dog to bite. pic.twitter.com/dHYDFG67OS— Maj Gen Javed Aslam Tahir, R, SVP PESS (@javedatahir) December 1, 2019
OLD VIDEO, FALSE CLAIM
A keyword search on Google led us to reports from October this year. The incident took place in the Netherlands and is unrelated to the recent Quran burning demonstration in Norway. According to De Telegraaf, the arrested man is a 43-year-old resident from Rotterdam. He was taken by the police after a call was made from the mosque, complaining that the man was being “difficult”.
Another Dutch publication Algemeen Dagblad (AD) wrote in an October 5 report that the man’s family had called the cops after he was violent with passers-by. An ambulance was also called for him however he was resisting detention. The man tried to grab a policeman’s firearm.
VIDEO VIRAL
The video has been shared with a false claim by users from across the world. The post below was made by an individual from Malaysia.
Norway Burning Al-Quran
For those that don’t understand urdu
Apparently Norway govt started burning Quraans
This imaan stood outside the musjid offered free quraans to anyone that neededPolice entered the musjid while he was reading quraan with shoes and a dog
He asked that they remove the shoes and take out the dogTo protect house of allah he defended.
The cops and dog attacked him and beat him upThe guy speaking asks that the vid should go viral and make this incident known around the world
Posted by Izham Nayan on Monday, 2 December 2019
It is in fact viral on Facebook.
Alt News has also received verification requests on its WhatsApp number.
A video of a man detained by Rotterdam, Netherlands police for aggressive behaviour was shared with the false claim that an Imam opposing the burning of the Quran in Norway was hounded by cops. Recently, another piece of misinformation was linked to the Quran burning demonstration. An image of a man suffering from bubonic plague was shared with the false claim that his hands were burnt by Allah as punishment for setting ablaze the holy book of Islam.
[Update: Rotterdam, Netherlands police was referred to as Norway police in this report. The same has been rectified.]
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.
