Following an outbreak of ethnic violence in eastern Bangladesh in September, a video has been viewed millions of times in social media posts falsely claiming minority women are blocking army vehicles in the country. But the video predates the recent unrest in Bangladesh, and according to Indian media, it shows women from the Meitei ethnic group in the Indian state of Manipur protesting against arrests by the military there.
“The Bangladesh Army is doing the right job. I am surprised by their (the women’s) courage. I thought they wouldn’t move. Later I see them running away before the vehicles start moving,” said a Bengali-language Facebook post. shared on September 24, 2024.
The nearly two-minute clip in the post, which has been viewed more than six million times, shows women lying on a road blocking an army convoy.
The video emerged online following reports on September 20, 2024, of clashes between tribal groups and Bengali-speaking communities in the Chittagong Hill Tract region of eastern Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s army said troops opened fire after being shot at by a tribal group during ethnic violence in the remote border area, with authorities and witnesses saying at least four people were killed (archived link).
The video was shared on Facebook along with similar false claims here and here.
But the video predates the recent violence in eastern Bangladesh.
Indian Army convoy
A Google reverse image search of a keyframe from the video found the footage published on
A search of “ISTV News” found a video posted to the ISTV Live YouTube channel, linked to the ISTV News website. The score of 6.34 to 7.57 in the video corresponds to the images shared in the fake messages (archived link).
A keyword search found a report published by India Today on May 1, 2024 about a group of Meitei women who blocked Indian army vehicles in Manipur the day earlier to protest the detention of 11 armed men (archived link).
In May 2023, an ethnic conflict broke out in Manipur between the predominantly Hindu ethnic majority of Meitei and the state’s mainly Christian Kuki community, killing at least 200 people since then.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the fake reports (left) and that of ISTV News (right):
Additionally, at 1:35 of the video, the fake messages showed a logo on one of the vehicles. A military official serving in Manipur told AFP that the logo belongs to the Indian Army’s 57th Mountain Division.
The official shared a news report from Indian media organization ANI News about an event organized by the army in Manipur, showing a banner with the same logo (archived link).
Below is a screenshot of the Army logo seen in the video (left) and the corresponding logo from the ANI News report (right):
AFP has previously debunked several claims about the unrest in Manipur state here and here.
