Video of Large Crowd of Egyptians Protesting Is Outdated
The Claim
Mass anti-government protests have begun in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
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Emerging story
A video recently went viral on social media platforms, allegedly showing a recent protest in Egypt. The video showed a massive crowd of people chanting, “The people want the fall of the regime.”
Jason Jay Smart, a political adviser who has lived and worked in Ukraine, shared the video on his X account and linked it to a recent phone call between the Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, which was focused on enhancing bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Jason said in his tweet, “A day after ‘the Egyptian Foreign Minister held a phone call with his Russian counterpart, emphasizing the need to intensify political consultations at the ministerial level…’ Mass anti-government protests have begun in the Egyptian capital Cairo.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The viral footage is outdated.
A 2019 Protest in Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra City
Through reverse image search, Misbar’s team found that the video dates back to a 2019 protest. A YouTube video published on September 21, 2019, showed typical scenes from the viral video in question. According to the title of the video, the protests took place in al-Mahalla city, a large city in the western part of Egypt.
Noon Post, an independent Arabic media platform, shared the video on its X account in 2019. The text was captioned: “Trending: a crowd in al-Mahalla al-Kubra raises the slogan: ‘We not leave… he will leave.’”
The video was also traced online in some social media posts. An X account shared the video on September 21, 2019, along with the caption: “A video from the chants of demonstrators.”
An Egyptian Businessman Caused Massive Protests Across Egypt
The protest in al-Mahalla was one of many that erupted across Egypt in 2019. Protesters demanded that the Egyptian president step down and prosecute those involved in corruption cases, denouncing the violations Egyptians face at the hands of the regime. Security forces chased the protesters, but no injuries were reported.
Simultaneously with al-Mahalla’s protests, hundreds of people demonstrated in several cities across Egypt, while security forces sent additional reinforcements and launched a wide campaign of arrests among the demonstrators.
The 2019 protests were fueled by a 47-year-old businessman named Mohamed Ali, considered one of the most vocal critics of al-Sisi. In September 2019, Ali posted daily videos accusing al-Sisi and the military top brass of corruption.
Ali claimed that the Egyptian military owed him millions of Egyptian pounds in unpaid dues, which he demanded to be paid. He said he fled the country out of fear of “retaliation” from the authorities after challenging the armed forces.
He further accused al-Sisi of squandering state funds to build presidential palaces and villas and claimed that projects were being undertaken as favors to generals in his close circle.
Ali’s videos triggered a series of hashtags on social media, amplifying anger across Egyptians.
The Egyptian president responded to Ali’s accusations himself, dismissing them as “lies and slander,” and rebuked Egyptians for watching the videos. Accordingly, Ali responded by calling for his removal.
No Records of Recent Protests in Egypt
The video in question is one example of several misleading videos that went viral on social media platforms in different languages. The circulating videos are claimed to show recent protests in Egypt.
However, Misbar analyzed several widely circulated videos and found them to be misleading.
One of the videos that went viral, allegedly showing a recent protest in Egypt, turned out to be from a 2019 protest in Damietta after investigating the landmarks seen in the video and similar outdated videos of protests from the same location.
Another video, showing shaky footage of an allegedly recent protest, turned out to be from a 2019 protest in Cairo.
It is notable that all of the videos Misbar’s team observed were originally from 2019 protests. Meanwhile, no protests have been reported in Egypt recently, contradicting the claims.
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