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.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
King of Denmark waves Palestinian flag in show of support for protesters.
Fact
Man seen in the viral video is not the Danish king, clip shows pro-Palestine rally in Malmo, Sweden.
Several social media users are circulating a 30-second video, claiming that it showed the King of Denmark, Frederick X, waving the Palestinian flag from the balcony of his home, in a show of support to the pro-Palestine demonstration outside his palace.
A wave of student protests over the war in Gaza and academic ties with Israel have reportedly begun to spread across Europe, but have remained much smaller in scale than those recently seen in the United States.
Fact Check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Denmark king Palestine flag”, which did not throw up any credible news reports about such an incident.
We found that Amalienborg is the King’s winter residence in Copenhagen, while Frederik VIII’s Palace is the Royal Family’s private residence. We can clearly see that the building in the viral video is neither of these royal residences.
A further search led us to this tweet, dated May 12, 2024, purportedly from one of the demonstrators, stating that the man is not the king of Denmark and that he was on his balcony with his son when a recent rally in Malmö, Sweden passed his flat.
Newschecker learnt that thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested in the Swedish port city on March 9 against Israel’s participation in the pan-continental pop competition, Eurovision. “Protesters waving green, white, black and red Palestinian flags packed the historic Stortorget square near Malmo’s 16th-century town hall before a planned march through the city for a rally in a park several miles (kilometres) from the Eurovision venue,” read an AP report, dated May 10, 2024, indicating that the viral video is from the Malmo rally.
A further search led us to this Google Maps image of the building seen in the viral video, an old girls’ school in Malmö, which further contradicts the viral claim. Multiple Danish media outlets, too, debunked the viral video, seen here and here.
Also Read: LK Advani Praised Rahul Gandhi? No, Viral Quote Is Fabricated
Conclusion
Video from a pro-Palestinian rally in Sweden falsely claimed to show Danish king waving Palestinian flag from his residence.
Result: False
Sources
The Royal House, Denmark website
Google Maps
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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.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
