Video of pro-Palestine demonstration in Washington viral; users falsely claim it shows dead bodies in Gaza

by Abira Das

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, a video has gone viral which seemingly shows a row of several dead bodies covered in shrouds with pictures of children placed in front of them. Many social media users have shared the video claiming that those were the dead bodies of Palestinians in Gaza.

Author and journalist @RichardHardigan shared the video on X (formerly Twitter), with the caption, “RT @swilkinsonbc “There’s never been a time in the history of Earth that exterminating an entire population is acceptable — why in 2023? why the Palestinians?” The video has 11,200 views, 588 likes and 633 retweets. (Archive)

A verified profile on X, @ChaudriIrfan1, shared the video with the caption, “Muslmano, checkout the score #Gaza” The post has 10,200 views, 226 likes and 190 retweets. (Archive)

Another verified X user, @Palestine_time, also shared the video with the same caption. The post has received over 3624 views, 42 likes and 44 retweets. (Archive)

Other users like @SprinterX99880 and @Kuwait_KW01 also shared the video on X with a similar claim. The claim was also amplified on Facebook.

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Fact Check

We broke down the video using Invid software and reverse-searched one of the visuals on Google. This led us to a report by AP News featuring a scene which can also be seen in the viral video. The report stated that thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators had marched to the Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C on November 4 demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The report further added that “Dozens of small white body bags with the names of children killed by Israeli missiles lined the street and demonstrators held signs calling for an immediate ceasefire.” Protesters had placed white sacks representing the bodies of people killed in Gaza during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Freedom Plaza in Washington.

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A comparison between the visuals from the viral clip and the image featured by AP depicts that both footage show similar patterns of pavement blocks, bushes in the background and protesters.

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We also came across similar photos of the Washington protest on Getty Images, clicked by photojournalist Probal Rashid. The photo captions indicate that the images were clicked in the pro-Palestine protest in Washington, on November 4, where protesters used symbolic body bags to represent the human cost of the Israel-Hamas war. (Images 1 and 2)

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Several pro-Palestinian protesters across the world have also used symbolic body bags to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. According to a Reuters report, over 10,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza since October 7.

To sum up, a video depicting a lineup of white sacks symbolically representing dead bodies has gone viral on social media with users falsely claiming that those were the dead bodies of Palestinians in Gaza. The visuals are from a pro-Palestine protest in Washington, on November 4, where demonstrators used the symbolic body bags to raise their voice against the lives lost in Gaza in the Israel-Hamas war.

Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.

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