Footage of protester hit with tear gas falsely linked to religious tension in Bangladesh
"In Bangladesh, acid is being thrown on Hindu women in broad daylight for coming out without wearing a burqa," reads a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on February 18, 2025.
It includes a video that shows a woman trying to cover her face with her backpack while two other men beside her shout and ask for water to help her.
A burqa is a one-piece overgarment that covers the entire head and body, with a mesh panel to see through.
Acid attacks on women have dropped dramatically in Bangladesh after it enacted tough new laws that threatened the death penalty for anyone convicted of the crime (archived link).
According to the Acid Survivors Foundation, there were 494 reported attacks in 2002 when the new measures came into force, but the number dropped to eight in 2019.
The false clip surfaced as minority communities faced a string of violence since a student-led uprising toppled long-time autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 (archived link).
In the chaotic days following her ouster, Hindus -- seen by some as having backed Hasina -- as well as Muslim Sufi shrines have been targeted by Islamist hardliners.
It was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook.
But a reverse image search with keyframes of the footage led to a longer version of the clip that local online news portal Dhaka Post published on its Facebook page on February 13 (archived link).
It shows a tear gas canister exploding in front of a group of protesters before riot police move in to disperse them.
"Students clash with police in front of the Secretariat," says the video's caption.
The clip in the false post can be seen from the 2:39 mark of the video report.
Another outlet Prothom Alo also published footage showing the same scene (archived link).
The Dhaka Tribune reported that police dispersed protests staged by students from Narsingdi Textile Engineering College against the institution's closure (archived link).
Ashikuzzaman Limon, the man seen on the left of the Dhaka Post clip and a second-year student at the college, told AFP on April 27 that no burqa or acid was involved in the incident.
"The way the footage is being shared is not right," Limon told AFP on April 27, 2025. "She was hit with tear gas hurled by police while we were protesting in front of the secretariat."
Bangladesh fact-checking organisation Rumor Scanner also published a report dismissing the claim as false.
AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation sparked by religious tensions in Bangladesh.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Nothing is stopping': Peace talks feel far away for Ukraine's soldiers
Sipping a coffee under the blazing sun around 20 kilometres from the front line, Ukrainian platoon commander Andriy is ready for peace. But as Russia and Ukraine hold direct talks in search of an end to the three-year war, he sees no let up to the fighting in east Ukraine, ravaged by Russia's full-scale invasion. "Nothing is stopping. Everything is as it was," the 27-year-old told AFP, in the town of Druzhkivka while on a break from the combat. Hours after negotiations in Istanbul ended on Monday, the sound of Russian glide bombs flying over -- and down onto -- the town resumed. The next morning, those civilians who refuse to leave set about their daily business, meandering through streets dotted with destroyed buildings. Andriy was clinging to hope the war will end this year, and said talks should continue, despite little sign of progress. But asked about Moscow's hardline demands for Ukraine's army to completely pull out of the four regions Russia says it has annexed -- Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia -- he is sceptical. "That's too much, I would say. But if the border remained as it is now, then maybe." - 'No real impact' - Nearby, another young soldier who goes by Leleka, in his early thirties, was trying to relax. He is just back from near Toretsk, one of the hottest spots on the eastern front where Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killing each other for months in a battle for the city, claimed by Russia earlier this year. "To be honest, I haven't watched the news for a long time because it doesn't really affect the reality we face here. So it's a bit like a parallel reality," he told AFP. After two rounds of talks that yielded only prisoner exchanges, the ginger-bearded soldier sees no point in trying to deal with the Russians. "It does not work. Negotiations with them? How? How do negotiations work? We talk about peace, and at the same time, they are shooting at us," he said. Moscow has repeatedly rejected calls by Ukraine, the United States and European countries for a full and immediate ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of dragging out the talks and not seriously wanting to halt its invasion. The Kremlin said Tuesday negotiations were "extremely complex" and that it was "wrong" to expect a speedy breakthrough. Leleka said there is "no way" Ukrainian troops would pull back from territory they still control. "The local commanders will not allow it." For 59-year-old deputy commander Did -- a call sign which means "grandfather" in Ukrainian -- an unconditional ceasefire is the only "logical" way to end the fighting. But he understands why Russia is refusing. "They have more weapons, their factories are working, they have more men, and North Korea and China are supplying them. Why would they stop?" Moscow's army will only halt their attacks, if Ukraine can deliver "a beating so bad that their teeth fall out or they swallow them," he said. - 'Give us weapons' - Instead of a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, Moscow has proposed a partial pause to the fighting -- two-to-three days and only in certain areas of the frontline. "They really need this. They need to regroup their troops. They need to restore their logistics," Leleka said of the Russian call for a temporary truce. Both Did and Leleka instead issued their own request for the West to step up its military support to Ukraine -- saying that could help give them a leg-up on the battlefield, and at the negotiating table. "Give us more weapons. We know how to use them ... Give us good weapons and we will stop them. We will stop them, we know how to do it," Did said. Standing away from the other two, Andriy, his head bowed, was thinking of home. "I want to be with my wife, to rest," he whispered. He has been fighting for three years and got married amid the war. "Whatever it takes, I want to go home." fv/asy-jc/giv
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
High-cost loans, Trump turmoil hurting Africa, says G20 panel chief
Critically needed economic growth in Africa is being held back by high borrowing costs imposed by international lenders, with unpredictable US policy changes adding to the strain, the head of the G20 panel on the continent said. Seasoned politician and anti-apartheid activist Trevor Manuel chairs the panel of experts working on proposals to address issues affecting Africa, including high debt, to be presented at a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in November. African nations are not necessarily more indebted than major economies but they face higher debt servicing costs, Manuel told AFP in an interview. The "unbelievably expensive and prohibitive" cost of capital for African nations has hobbled their development, said Manuel, who served as finance minister in post-apartheid South Africa for more than a decade. "We know that the risk premiums in general on Africa are much higher than they need to be, and that impacts them on the debt service costs," he added. More than half of Africa's 1.3 billion people live in countries with debt interest payments higher than social spending on health, education and infrastructure, according to the South African government. South Africa is the only African nation in the G20 and has made debt sustainability for developing countries one of the priorities of its presidency of the group of 19 countries, the African Union and European Union. African countries will pay close to $89 billion in external debt service alone this year, with 20 low-income countries at risk of debt distress, it says. Manuel said the panel will seek to persuade the entire G20 to engage with multilateral development banks, in particular the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to address the issue of borrowing costs. - 'Unbelievably difficult' - Abrupt changes in global order since US President Donald Trump took office in January, such as sweeping aid cuts and trade tariffs, will have long-lasting ramifications for the continent, Manuel said. Trump's "capricious" announcement in April of major trade tariffs effectively did away with the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a major US-African trade deal that had helped to build some African economies, he said. He cited as examples the tiny kingdom of Lesotho, which faces 50 percent tariffs on exports to the United States, including jeans and golf shirts, and Madagascar, which sends vanilla pods and is threatened with 47 percent tariffs. "It becomes unbelievably difficult for small countries that try and develop export markets, for their products to be struck by these sudden announcements," Manuel said. "There's no time for adjustment." Adding to the pressure is the termination of USAID programmes and a push for NATO countries to increase defence spending, which restricts what they have available for overseas development assistance. "The impact on the African continent is going to be very severe," said Manuel. "We can't abstract Africa from the rest of the globe." "The realm of policymaking requires a greater degree of predictability and certainty than what we see at the moment," he said. "The fact that there are these occasional outbursts that aren't informed by reality as I see it... makes it even more complex." - Intra-Africa - Manuel said his panel's work on better understanding the African economy and developing solutions was likely to continue beyond this year's G20, for example, via the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union. This included looking at "intra-African dynamics" such as the role of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) launched in 2019. Conflicts also cost the continent, he said, citing the war in Sudan and unrest that has held back a major gas project in impoverished northern Mozambique. "When countries spend more on war than what they do on the upliftment of people, then we face profound consequences," Manuel said. He said a strong United Nations and African Union were important in "persuading countries to do the right things" in the long term, beyond the sometimes disruptive short electoral cycles that usher in new leadership and policy changes. "If you don't have those kinds of objectives, which frequently will not be completed within a particular electoral cycle, I think we run ourselves into the ground." br/ho/rl/cms
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sweden tries sole surviving jihadist over Jordan pilot burnt to death
A jihadist, jailed over the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016, goes on trial in Stockholm on Wednesday for his role in the 2014 capture and subsequent killing of a Jordanian pilot burned alive in Syria. The case is considered unique as the other jihadists involved in the brutal killing, which sparked international outrage at the time, are presumed dead, Swedish prosecutor Henrik Olin told AFP. Osama Krayem, a 32-year-old Swede, is already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks. He now faces charges of "serious war crimes and terrorist crimes" for the killing of the Jordanian pilot, with his trial due to open at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) at Stockholm's district court. On December 24, 2014, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria. The pilot was captured the same day by fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group near the central city of Raqqa and killed sometime before February 3, 2015, when a video of the killing was published, according to the prosecution. His death shocked Jordan, which was participating in the US-led coalition's strikes against IS positions in Syria. Bringing the case to trial was the result of extensive cooperation with officials in Belgium, France and the United States, prosecutor Olin said last week. The case was proof that "justice always catches up" with those responsible, he told reporters. The pilot's execution was filmed and a 22-minute video accompanied by a specially-composed religious chant was published. In the video, the victim is seen walking past several masked IS fighters, including Krayem, according to prosecutors. The pilot is then locked in a cage that is set on fire, leading to his death. Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact date of the murder but the investigation has identified the location where it took place. - Eyebrow scar - It was thanks to a scar on the suspect's eyebrow, visible in the video and spotted by Belgian police, that Krayem was identified and the investigation was opened, said another prosecutor on the case, Reena Devgun. Other evidence includes conversations on social media, including one where Krayem asks a person if he has seen a new video "where a man gets fried", according to the investigation, a copy of which has been viewed by AFP. "I'm in the video," Krayem said, pointing out the moment when the camera zooms in on his face. The other person replies: "Hahaha, yes, I saw the eyebrow." The defendant's lawyer, Petra Eklund, told AFP her client admitted to being present at the scene but disputed the prosecution's version. "He denies the acts for which he is prosecuted," she said. "He acknowledges having been present at that place during the event but claims not to have acted in the manner described by the prosecutors in the account of the facts," she added. Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined the IS group in Syria in 2014 before returning to Europe in September 2015. He was arrested in Belgium in April 2016. In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for helping plan the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed. The following year, he was given a life sentence in Belgium for participating in the March 2016 bombings at Brussels' main airport and on the metro system, which killed 32 people. Krayem has been temporarily handed over to Sweden to participate in the Stockholm trial, which is scheduled to last until June 26. He is expected to be sent back to France to continue serving his sentence there at the end of the Swedish trial. nzg/jll/po/djt/giv
