According to the news portal, Middle East Eye, on October 5, protests erupted simultaneously in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Patna, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, where thousands joined marches demanding India cut ties with Israel. Demonstrators held signs saying, ‘India funds, Gaza burns,’ called for a ceasefire, and pressed for sanctions.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which people are seen protesting and vandalising public property. The video is shared with a caption suggesting that it shows people in Kerala protesting against Israel.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Watch a pro-Palestine demonstration held in Kerala. Notice that little kid in there. Does he know what Palestine and Israel are? Not likely to know anything. Now, if you get a better chance than this, if there is a riot or something, don’t doubt... He will be one of the first to take weapons in the crowd.” (Translated from Malayalam)
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The video shows people protesting against a toll booth in Kerala.
On observing the video, we can see that it shows the watermark of Manorama News. Moreover, at the end of the video, we can also see the logo of Manorama News.
Using this information, we searched with relevant keywords and found the same video published by Manorama News on September 8. At around 8 seconds into the video, we can see the same visuals where people are seen protesting on the road and vandalising the barricades.
In the same video, at around the 40-second timestamp, we can see a man in a green sweatshirt holding a placard that reads, “...we would not be tolled.”
The description associated with the video stated that people were protesting against a toll booth. The caption read, “Massive protest against toll booth in Kumbala; Clashes | Kasaragod Toll booth protest.”
We found that the incident was also reported by Onmanorama on September 8.
The report also had a screenshot of the viral video, and it stated that a protest in Kumbla, Kerala, erupted against a temporary toll plaza proposed on NH-66 just 20 km from an existing one. Over 1,000 residents marched, destroyed barricades and blocked traffic. As a result, police responded with water cannons to disperse the crowd.
The incident was also reported by The Times of India.
Hence, we can ascertain that the claim is false.
