Fake Video: Man “Defacing” French Monument
The Claim
The video below depicts a man trying to deface a French monument, then falling off it.
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Emerging story
In mid-July 2020, French social media users posted a video depicting a man falling from a monument. They claim he was trying to “deface” the monument following recent anti-racism protests.
Misbar’s Analysis
The posts about the video followed the toppling of many statues of people linked to slavery during mass international protests against racial injustice.
Misbar’s investigation found that the statue is located at Place de la Republique in Paris. It depicts Marianne, a French symbol of liberty.
Some protestors climbed on the statue to put a “we can’t breathe” mask and American flag on it. However, there is no evidence that protestors vandalized or harmed the statue in any way.
Further, we conducted a reverse image search from screenshots in the video, and found that the footage is actually from a 2015 music festival called Techno Parade. A man died after falling from the statue during the festival.
