Riots Observed in London due to the unavailability of food items? No, Old Video Goes Viral

Authors

Shaminder Singh

Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.

Claim:

Riots in London due to the unavailability of food items. The United Kingdom will be locked down by tonight. Army soldiers take to the UK streets.

Verification:

India is observing an unprecedented shutdown as part of the ‘Janta Curfew’ called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to slow the spread of novel coronavirus cases in the country. Over 300 people have been tested positive for Covid-19 in India so far. With the number of cases surging across the globe, governments are leaving no stones unturned to facilitate conditions for social distancing. Several states in India, including Rajasthan and Punjab, have decided to go for a lockdown till March 31, barring essential and medical services, from March 22 to March 31.

Amid panic over the novel coronavirus, several rumor-mongering messages and graphics are doing the rounds on various social media platforms.  A 5-minute long video of people mobbing, vandalizing, and breaking into the stores is doing the rounds on social media, which claims that riots were observed in London due to the unavailability of the food items and the United Kingdom will be locked down by tonight.

We found that several users shared the viral video on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The viral video was also sent by several readers to Newschecker’s WhatsApp helpline number for verification.

Fact Check:

With the help of relevant keywords, we searched to find out if any riots took place in London due to Covid-19. We found several media reports Published by The Telegraph, Express, and The Sun of a scuffle that broke out at a London supermarket.

Watch: Scuffle breaks out at London supermarket as shoppers fear Coronavirus lockdown

A scuffle broke out when shoppers tried to enter an Asda supermarket in Wembley, northwest London on Thursday. Food retailers have warned the Government that riots and civil disobedience could break out within weeks if production is unable to keep up with surging customer demand.

London supermarket chaos: Fight erupts in Tesco as coronavirus panic grips Britain – VIDEO

The shocking video footage, widely shared on social media site WhatsApp, shows people shouting as a desperate fight breaks out at the Tesco Metro store in East London. One woman can be seen taking items – which appear to be tinned food – off the shelf and throwing them at other shoppers.

According to a report published by The Telegraph, “a scuffle broke out when shoppers tried to enter an Asda supermarket in Wembley, northwest London. Food retailers have warned the Government that riots and civil disobedience could break out within weeks if production is unable to keep up with surging customer demand”. It was evident from media reports that due to panic over the novel coronavirus, people have started stockpiling rations. Still, incidents of panic-buying in stores are in low intensity, and there is no condition like riots in the United Kingdom.

Coming to the video, we started fact-checking whether the video that’s viral on social media is a recent one or is an old video. With the help of ‘InVid,’ we got multiple keyframes of the video. By using a reverse-image search on one of the keyframes, we found a video uploaded on the YouTube channel ‘BaguaChannel.’ The video was uploaded on August 11, 2011. We analyzed the viral video, and the video uploaded on YouTube from frame to frame and established that it is the same video doing rounds on social media.

Meanwhile, we also checked the YouTube video’s description. According to the BaguaChannel description, this video is of riots that happened in Peckham, London. With the help of Google search, we found several global media reports on the London riots. It was clear from these reports that the video viral on social media is the London riots that happened in 2011.

‘The riots will forever stay in my mind’

During the summer riots in 2011 police officers came under attack from thousands of people involved in civil unrest and looting. Lawlessness broke out in cities across England in perhaps the largest example of disorder in post-war Britain. Here, two former Metropolitan Police officers describe what it was like policing London, where the riots began.

The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London Riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011, when thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, saw looting, arson, and mass deployment of police, and resulted in the deaths of five people.

Conclusion:

It is evident from our fact check that the video viral on social media has nothing to do with the novel coronavirus. The video is about riots that happened in London in 2011.

Sources

• InVid
• Google Search
• Media reports
• Google Reverse Image Search

Result: False 

(If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form)

Authors

Shaminder Singh

Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.