Video purporting to show anti-vaccination protest in France is actually from Kenya

A social media post makes false claims about a video showing tear gas and water cannons being used against protesters in the streets.

The caption accompanying the video on the July 14 post said, “Resistance begins to mount against President Macron’s plan for mandatory COVID vaccinations of all French citizens. #france.”

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its news feed. (Read more about PolitiFact’s partnership with Facebook.)

France has seen demonstrations against a new government policy announced by President Emmanuel Macron that requires vaccinations for all health care workers and offers people with proof of vaccination privileged access to certain activities. The policy does not mandate vaccines for all French citizens.

But the protest shown in the Facebook video was not filmed in France. The video was captured at a demonstration in Nairobi, Kenya, that occurred July 14 in response to a local university’s decision to raise tuition fees. 

The same video can be found on YouTube with the title, “University of Nairobi Students demo against fee increment. Clashing with the police.” Reuters, through similar videos and a Google Street View, was able to confirm the location to be in Nairobi.

We rate this claim False. 

By

Kelsey Sena Tamakloe

Staff writer

July 16, 2021

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• France has had protests against new vaccination mandates for health workers.

• The protest shown in the video was not in France. It was a student protest in Nairobi, Kenya.

Statement

Protest video shows “resistance” to “President Macron’s plan for mandatory COVID vaccinations of all French citizens.”

Context

a Facebook post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Facebook posts

Statement Date

July 14, 2021