Supporters of Pakistan’s jailed ex-leader Imran Khan defied a ban on public gatherings and marched to the capital Islamabad in late November, but circulating footage of a massive nighttime gathering does not show pro-Khan rallyists. The video in fact shows crowds attending a motoring event in Libya.
The video was shared on Facebook on November 25, 2024 where it received more than 4,000 views.
It showed crowds waving flashlights on their mobile phones in an open area alongside vehicles moving on muddy tracks, while fireworks lit up the night sky.
“PTI workers have occupied the D-Chowk Islamabad,” read the video’s Urdu language caption, referring to the public square in the South Asian nation’s capital housing the presidential palace, prime minister’s office, parliament and the Supreme Court (archived link).
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on December 10, 2024
The video was also shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook and X.
The posts surfaced as Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Khan called for more supporters to join protests over his incarceration, after deadly confrontations between marchers and security forces.
He has been jailed since August 2023, sidelined by dozens of legal cases he claims were confected to prevent his comeback in elections this year marred by rigging allegations.
Despite a ban on public gatherings, convoys of pro-Khan demonstrators marched to the capital, hauling aside roadblocks and skirmishing with police and paramilitary forces firing volleys of rubber bullets and tear gas (archived link).
Police said on November 27 they had arrested nearly 1,000 protesters after crowds were evicted from the city centre in a sweeping security crackdown (archived link).
The video circulating online, however, does not show pro-Khan protesters in Islamabad.
Libya motoring event
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes found the video shared online weeks before protests erupted in Pakistan.
A higher-quality version was published on TikTok by Libyan television channel Almasar on November 9 (archived link).
Arabic language caption on the TikTok post translates as: “Atmosphere in Waddan T-T Rally.”
According to the Libyan Express news media, the 10th annual “T-T Desert Rally” motoring event kicked off on November 7 in Libya’s southwestern desert town of Waddan and drew various international competitors. The event lasted four days, it said (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the TikTok post (right) highlighting the similarities in red circles and publishing date difference in blue rectangles:
Screenshots comparison of the false post (left) and the TikTok post (right) highlighting the similarities in red circles and publishing date difference in blue rectangles
An analysis of the video also found one of the spectators could be seen waving Libya’s tricolour national flag.
Screenshot of the video highlighting the Libyan flag
A keyword search on Google Maps for Waddan found several images and videos of the car rally geotagged to that location (archived link).
Below is a screenshot of a video posted on Google Maps on November 2024 showing the event from a different angle:
AFP has debunked other false claims related to protests held in support of Khan here and here.
