Video from Uttar Pradesh falsely shared as mob chasing police in Haldwani, Uttarakhand

What is the claim?

A video of an agitated mob is circulating on social media with the claim that it is from the north Indian city of Haldwani and shows the crowd attacking the police. Violence erupted in the Uttarakhand town on February 8 after the administration conducted a demolition drive at the site of a mosque and madrasa (an Islamic center for free elementary education).  

Several users shared the video claiming that an “Islamist mob of Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees” attacked police personnel. Archived versions of such posts, laced with communal undertones, can be found here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts.(Source: X/ Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the viral video is not from Haldwani. 

How did we verify this?

A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to a post on X (formerly Twitter) shared on February 9. The post shared the exact viral video with a caption stating that it shows scenes from Bareilly, a city in Uttar Pradesh. 

We also came across a Bareilly Police post in response to a user who had shared the viral video on X. In its reply, Bareilly Police attached a press statement and a video of a police officer stating that on February 9, people were returning peacefully after offering Friday prayers and attending a gathering called by Tauqeer Raza Khan, a maulana (Islamic scholar). As the crowd was returning, some miscreants beat up three men, of whom two received injuries. The police said they took appropriate measures to maintain law and order in the area, and an investigation was launched into the matter. 

According to a report in The Indian Express, tension prevailed in the Shyamganj area of Bareilly after three persons were injured in two incidents of stone-pelting on February 9. Stones were reportedly pelted at people returning home after participating in a protest organized by Khan, who also heads the Bareilly-based political outfit Ittehad-e-Millat Council. The report said that Khan and his supporters were detained for a while after they weren't allowed to hold a protest. 

Taking a hint from these, we traced the location of the place where the viral video was shot on Google Maps. We were able to geolocate two shops seen in the viral video — one named Babu Band (visible at the 0:05 timestamp) and the second called Sahu Gopi Nath (spotted at the 0:07 mark)— to the Shyamganj area of Bareilly.

The stores seen in the viral video are located in Bareilly's Shyamganj road. (Source: X/Google Maps/Screenshot)

According to a news report by ABP, thousands of supporters of Khan took to the streets on February 9 following the leader's detention after he called for a demonstration and gave a ‘jail bharo (fill the prisons)’ call. The demonstration was called in response to developments surrounding the Gyanvapi mosque and violence in Haldwani. Khan had targeted the Indian government and asked for the arrest of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami over the demolition drive in Haldwani.

At least five people have been killed, and many have been seriously injured following the unrest in Haldwani. Amid this violence, several visuals have been circulating on social media with false claims. Logically Facts has fact-checked one such claim here.

The verdict 

A video of a mob from the Shyamganj area of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, where tensions escalated after the detention of cleric and political leader Tauqeer Raza Khan on February 9, has been shared with false claims that it shows the recent unrest in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.