The Kyiv Protest Video That Was Three Years Old
A Ukrainian fact-check traced an alleged July 2024 rally to a different square in May 2021.
A video circulated as evidence that a pro-Palestinian rally had taken place on Kyiv’s Sophia Square on July 31, 2024. VoxCheck compared it with footage of a rally on Mykhailivska Square on May 22, 2021. Clothing, flags and a distinctive placard matched the older footage.
The images showed a real demonstration. The date and location attached to them were wrong. VoxCheck also looked for contemporaneous reporting and notices from authorities and the Palestinian embassy and found no corroboration for the claimed July 2024 event.
For a database of protest disruptions, the older footage supplies no evidence of a closure or damage on the date in the viral claim. Date and place need independent verification before any alleged consequence can be attributed to an event.