Video of Sikhs, Kashmiris protesting against PM Modi is from New York

A video of Sikh men chanting pro-Khalistan and anti-PM Narendra Modi slogans has been widely shared on social media. Apart from sloganeering, multiple men can be seen vandalising the Indian flag. Several social media users have linked the video to the farmers’ protest in India.

Discrediting the ongoing farmers protest in India, Twitter user @sandeep_titan posted this video. He wrote, “We have been saying it from the beginning that this is not farmers protest…” It gained close to one lakh views.

हम तो पहले दिन से कह रहे हैं की है किसान आंदोलन नहीं है परंतु कुछ लोगों के चश्मा बहुत बड़ा चढ़ा हुआ है अगर अब भी अगर चश्मा नहीं उतरता है तो कभी नहीं उतरेगा एक भी किसान नेता इसके बारे में बोल कर दिखा दे। कोई नहीं बोलेगा क्योंकि किसान आंदोलन चला भी तो यही लोग रहे हैं😡😡🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/bKmV5zdrsR

— संदीप नारायण 🇮🇳 (@sandeep_titan) October 4, 2021

This video was also tweeted by Arun Pudur. In the past, he has shared multiple misleading claims.

Yeah this is ‘Farmers Protest’ indeed.

Canadian Khalistani kutte have had too many CCP biscuits. Time to lock their conspirators in India for good. #TimesUp pic.twitter.com/13AvDSiroK

— Arun Pudur  (@arunpudur) October 4, 2021

Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this claim on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160) and official mobile application. (iOS and Android)

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VIDEO VERIFICATION

At 17 seconds in the viral video, we noticed a blue coloured police barricade. A quick keyword search ‘blue police barricade’ on Google revealed identical barricades on various stock images websites from multiple US-based cities. The image below compares the barricade in the viral video with an image on Alamy. There are similar barricades from Chicago and Boston police.

Despite multiple reverse image searches, we could not find the context behind this video. However, a keyword search led us to tweet by @nriherald. It stated that the video is from New York during PM Narendra Modi’s three-day visit (September 22 to 25). On the final day, PM Modi made an address to the UN General Assembly.

NRI Herald Australia reports: Khalistani Sikh extremists spotted at New York during PM modi’s visit tearing off Indian National flag while shouting extremist slogans. pic.twitter.com/7qVVoYgVKw

— NRI Herald (@nriherald) October 3, 2021

We performed another keyword search in Urdu on Facebook and found a broadcast by Pakistan-based news outlet HUM News on Facebook.

We managed to identify two men (one in camouflage t-shirt and the other in green shirt) seen in the first frame of the viral video in a September 26 broadcast by Pakistan-based media outlet HUM News at the 26-second mark. As per this report, the protest took place near the UN Office in New York.

We also spotted the man in a camouflage t-shirt in the broadcast by Facebook page VOSA TV from the 1:21 mark. As per this report, the incident took place in New York.

To sum it up, a video of protests by Khalistan supporters in the US at the UN Office in New York around PM Modi’s visit was linked to the farmers’ protest in India. The gathering also saw people showing solidarity with Kashmir.