(Reuters) – A video of Muslims gathered for a special outdoor prayer during Eid al-Azha in London has been misleadingly portrayed as a daily occurrence.
The video shows worshippers in Norbury Park, south London, and was shared in mid-November on messaging platform X, formerly Twitter (archived), and Facebook (archived), with the caption: “In London there are around 500 mosques, why do they pray in the streets and parks every day? What message do they want to send?”
Reuters traced the video to at least July 2022 (archived), when it was shared as showing a special event for Eid al-Azha, a major Muslim holiday.
Corroborating visuals of the same event were posted by Norbury Muslim Centre, which organised the outdoor prayer in 2022, as well as for 2021 and 2023.
“We can confirm that this was a one-off event in the year and not a daily occurrence,” a spokesperson for the Norbury Muslim Centre told Reuters in an email.
Eid al-Azha is one of the two most important festivals in the Islamic calendar and is marked with Muslims gathering in mosques or vast open sites to celebrate and pray.
VERDICT
Misleading. The video shows a special event for Eid al-Azha not something that is commonplace.