During the session of the UN General Assembly, a video circulated on social networks, the author of which captured a street protest against Ukraine in front of the headquarters of this organization. We have verified the authenticity of this video.
In the 11-second recording, allegedly filmed in the 20s of September in New York, two men are holding signs with the inscriptions Fuck Ukraine and No money to dictators, as well as a caricature of Vladimir Zelensky. It is assumed that the action is timed to coincide with the arrival of the Ukrainian president at the session of the UN General Assembly.
This video received the main distribution on Telegram - in particular, thanks to the channels “Anatoly Shariy"(907,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Russia now"(208,000), "Uncle Slava"(192,000), Voblya (156,000) and "First People's"(104,000).
On September 10, 2024, the 79th session of the General Assembly opened at the UN headquarters in New York, and from September 23 to 25 at various UN events (“Future Summit", Security Council meeting, sessions General Assembly) was addressed by President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. During his visit to New York, he also met with leaders USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Japan, India, Turkey, South Africa and other countries.
The viral video was filmed on crossroads Forty-seventh Street and First Avenue in close proximity to the UN headquarters complex. Demonstrators regularly gather in this area and surrounding streets to draw attention to a particular political position. This happens especially often during sessions of the UN General Assembly. So it was this time too - on many occasions photos And video, dated the 20th of September, show participants in protests for a variety of reasons: from protests against arms supplies to Israel to calls to stop corruption in Ghana. Gotcha to the Getty Images photo bank and footage with posters dedicated to Ukraine - however, they cannot be called anti-Ukrainian.
In a photo taken on September 25, two men are holding signs reading “Russia is a terrorist state” and “Stand with Ukraine.” Judging by the surroundings, this is approximately the same place as in the viral video, only filmed from a different angle. The people in the photo look like the characters in the viral video, but are dressed differently. It is noteworthy that in numerous recent photographs from New York the weather is cloudy, and in the video distributed on Telegram channels the sun is shining brightly.
Moreover, in the video, participants in an anti-war protest can be seen next to two men holding posters against Ukraine and Zelensky. Demonstrators making opposing calls stand in close proximity to each other, which looks strange.
Both the Getty Images photo and the viral video show another group of protesters and a banner with words in Chinese and English.
Judging by the inscriptions, the participants of this action protested against the persecution of adherents of the religious movement Falun Gong in China. Such demonstrations are traditional for New York during the UN General Assembly session. But the banner on the viral video is more similar to the one used at the protests in 2021–2023 years, not in 2024.
And it was on September 20 last year that the @irina_livadnaya and @protestny Instagram accounts appeared video, in which the characters in the video, which went viral in the fall of 2024, are seen from a different angle. In their hands are posters with the inscriptions Stand up with Ukraine (“Support Ukraine”) and Stop genocide in Ukraine (“Stop genocide in Ukraine”). The men stand surrounded by protesters holding other pro-Ukrainian posters.
As a New York activist and community administrator told Verified For Freedom In Russia on Facebook Yulia Zaporozhtseva, the photo shows regular participants in anti-war protests in this city. She confirmed that they were photographed by a Getty Images correspondent in 2024, and provided other photographs from last year's protest. In these photos, both men also hold posters with slogans in support of Ukraine.
The basis of the viral video, as Verified found out, was video clip from the verified YouTube channel Voice of America Africa, published September 21, 2023. When creating the fake, not only were the posters changed, but the VoA logo was also cut off.
According to the TGStat service, the first to publish the edited video was the Telegram channel “Release the Kraken!"(67,000 views). There, the video was posted on September 24, 2024 at 17:53 Moscow time. This channel repeatedly appeared in the “Verified” analyzes as source misinformation.
Thus, the video of protesters against support for Ukraine at the UN headquarters in September 2024 was changed. The creators of the fake based the video on a fragment of a VoA Africa report published last year. In the original video, on the contrary, the demonstrators expressed solidarity with Ukraine.
Cover photo: screenshot from viral video
Read on topic:
- Is it true that before Zelensky’s arrival in New York, the slogan “Glory to Urine” was accidentally shown on the big screen?
- Is it true that an advertisement was shown in New York calling for support for Israel instead of Ukraine?
- Is it true that a banner was posted in New York with the words “No Zelensky - no war”?
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