Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Video of Kukis firing rounds at Meiteis, the ethnic groups at the centre of the Manipur clashes
Fact
Viral video was found to be uploaded by a Finnish PC gamer in 2020
A video showing some people opening heavy fire with sophisticated weapons is doing the rounds of social media with users linking it to the recent violence in Manipur. According to one user, the video shows members of the Kuki community firing rounds at Meiteis.
What is Happening In Manipur?
Violent clashes reportedly broke out at several places during the course of a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ called by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3, which was organised in protest against the demand for inclusion of the state’s Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, following an April 19 Manipur High Court directive.
The demand for ST status for Meiteis has always faced resistance from the other tribals, namely the Kukis and the Nagas. They argue that the Meiteis are the dominant population in the state and also hold dominance in political representation.
Fact check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this Instagram post, dated July 5, 2020, uploaded by @threatty_, who described himself as a video creator. He has captioned the video, “Warzone!”, along with hashtags such as #gaming #justforfun #modernwarfare. @threatty stated that the post was a paid partnership with Airsoft Extreme, internationally known as one of the oldest airsoft companies in the United States. Airsoft is a military simulation sport where players participate in mock combat with authentic military-style weapons and tactics.
According to @threatty_ bio on Youtube, he is a “die-hard PC gamer, history enthusiast, Finnish army reservist (served in 2011)” and that he aims to provide top quality original content of the games he plays.
A look through the Instagram and Youtube pages reveal several gaming videos, however, we could not ascertain if the viral video is a gaming clip.
We hav reached out to the gamer and will update this article once we receive a response.
Conclusion
A viral clip of “clash between Kukis and Meiteis in Manipur” was found to be a 2020 video uploaded by a PC gamer.
Result: False
Sources
Instagram post, July 5, 2020
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
