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The viral video shows irritated Italian drivers roughly crowding out protesters blocking traffic while sitting on the road. According to some accounts, these demonstrators are refugees from Ukraine, and the episode shows that the Italians are fed up with the demands of the Ukrainians. The video actually shows a completely different situation: a demonstration by environmental activists in Rome last June.
Verification in a nutshell
- A video posted on July 19 shows drivers angry at protesters blocking the road. These demonstrators are presented as refugees from Ukraine demanding more support for their country.
- The film has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine: it shows environmental activists blocking Rome’s ring road on June 16 to warn of the effects of climate change.
Detailed verification
In this video posted on July 19 on Twitter and watched nearly 10,000. At times, you can see protesters in yellow vests sitting on a lane and blocking the passage of cars, creating a traffic jam of at least several dozen vehicles. Two annoyed drivers confiscate the demonstrators’ banner and push them to the side of the lane to pass the vehicles. One of the activists is back on track anyway.
“Italian drivers throw out Ukrainians who have blocked the road to beg for more weapons, money [sic] It’s a pity, ”comments the author of this post on Twitter on July 19. On Twitter, the video was also made available in English on the same day.
The Russian-language Telegram channel posted a video in this post that got over 19,000 views.
According to the authors of these publications, the video illustrates the fact that Italians are tired of Ukrainians’ demands.
environmental activists
In the video, we can see that the photos are from “Local Team”, an Italian filmmaking company. By searching on Twitter for the keywords “local team”, “activists” and “cars” in Italian, we find original moviein the longer version and dated June 16.
According to legend, activists of the ecological movement Extinction Rebellion blocked the bypass of Rome in protest against “gas and coal”. Extinction Rebellion is an environmental movement advocating civil disobedience to mobilize against global warming.
Italian TV Rai released another video of the June 16 incident where two police officers tried to evict protesters from the road.
Application
So the film has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, it was not a demonstration of support for Ukraine, but an action by Extinction Rebellion for the climate near Rome on June 16.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the editorial office of France 24 Observers has analyzed several fake photos that are supposed to condemn the behavior of “Ukrainian refugees” staying in the European Union countries.
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No, these people with Nazi tattoos are not refugees from Ukraine.
