Sandeep Thakur, who identifies as head of social media and IT intellectual cell of BJP Delhi, shared a video on Twitter (archive link) with the claim that Muslim commuters spat on fellow passengers inside a metro train in Paris. The video shows cops rounding up a number of people. “The same treatment should be meted out to them (Muslims) here (in India) as well. These people were selling saliva-ridden vegetables,” he claimed.

The same video also shared by Twitter user P.N.Rai who wrote that Europe is now becoming an Islamic state (archive link). Ponnappa Cheppudira (@PCheppudira) tweeted the clip with a similar caption in English.

Another Twitter user shared this video claiming refugees were spitting on people in Paris.

Several other users have shared this video on Facebook and Twitter with a Hindi caption.

False claim

Alt News broke down this video into multiple frames by using InVID and a reverse search of one of the frames led us to a Romanian news article published on October 2, 2020. This incident happened in Bucharest, Romania. According to this article, “Dinamo and Steaua (football) fans gathered on Friday in front of the Dinamo stadium. The gendarmes (paramilitary force) intervened and the fans came into conflict with the police. Two gendarmes were hit at the Ştefan cel Mare metro station.”

Romania-based football journalist Emanuel Roşu had tweeted the video on October 2, 2020.

We also found one video on YouTube uploaded on October 2, 2020, with the title “Romania 02.10.2020: Clashes between hooligans and police in Bucharest.”

An unrelated video of clashes between football fans and police in Romania was falsely shared as an incident from Paris. It was claimed that Muslims entered a metro train in the city and began to spit at commuters. It is noteworthy that BJP’s Sandeep Thakur made a reference to past allegations on Muslims in India spreading the coronavirus through spitting. Alt News has debunked a plethora of videos shared with identical false claims after Nizamuddin emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot.

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About the Author

Aqib is monitoring and researching mis/disinformation at Alt News