Video of police personnel dropping their handcuffs predates the protests against Macron's pension changes
A tweet sharing the miscaptioned video has been viewed more than 128,000 times.
(Reuters) - Video of French police personnel discarding their handcuffs in a protest in 2020 has been shared online as depicting the officers joining protests in France against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age.
A tweet sharing the miscaptioned video has been viewed more than 128,000 times at the time of writing (here). Similar posts were shared on Facebook (here) and (here).
The clip can be seen at the 00:30 mark of a video shared by Russian news agency Ruptly in 2020 (here).
The video was filmed during widely reported demonstrations in France in June 2020 in response to tougher measures imposed on the police force. At the time, officers across France were expressing their opposition to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner’s announced ban on the controversial chokehold technique, and to immediately suspend any officers suspected of misconduct (here).
Reuters debunked the same clip after it had also been miscaptioned in September 2020 (here).
The claim surfaced online in March 2023 as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched against President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the pension age and the police clashed with violent anarchists in France, Reuters reported (here).
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The video shows French police personnel discarding their handcuffs in a demonstration in 2020.
