Zoo escapes and falling cars are shown in old footage unrelated to the riots in France

Protests have been held in parts of France after the killing of Nahel M, a 17-year-old of Algerian descent, during a traffic stop in the town of Nanterre on June 27.

In some places the demonstrations turned violent, with buildings set alight and some shops looted.

False information about the French unrest has proliferated across social media in recent weeks. Here are some of the most popular recent claims checked by PA:

Animals in Paris Zoo are ‘safe and well’

One common subject of disinformation was that Paris Zoo has been broken into, with wild animals roaming the streets of the capital.

Evaluation: False

The facts

This video on TikTok – which claims to show lions moving between cars in Paris – has appeared elsewhere previously on social media, such as this tweet from 2020.

It also shows a car with a UK licence plate and a ‘GB’ sticker in the background, suggesting the footage may not have been shot in France.

There is no evidence zoo animals have been released by protesters and the zoo has said all animals are safe and well.

Images of cars falling from a high-rise building are from Fast And The Furious film

Another video, shared on Twitter and TikTok, shows cars falling from a high-rise building into oncoming traffic.

Evaluation: False

The facts

A reverse image search shows this video comes originally from the set of the eighth Fast And The Furious film, with the footage uploaded to image sharing website Imgur in 2016.

A woman shared footage of the filming with local news outlets in May 2016.

The stunt took place at the Halle Bros Parking Garage in Cleveland and local news outlets reported surrounding streets were closed in May and June 2016 for the filming.

The same video has been used before as a source of disinformation relating to other incidents of unrest in France, such as this TikTok video from 2022.

Video showing armed gangs was filmed in June 2020

This tweet features a low-resolution video of people wearing face coverings and brandishing firearms.

Evaluation: False

The facts

The footage was not taken in 2023, or in Toulouse as another tweet claims.

An article from June 2020 on the website of the Scottish Sun newspaper alleges these people are instead Chechen gang members in the city of Dijon in eastern France.

This was corroborated by other news outlets – the YouTube channels of Sky News Australia [from 0:42] and Le Parisien also covered this footage in June 2020.

Links

TikTok video of lions moving between cars (archived post and video)

Twitter video of lions from 2020 (archived)

Tweet from Paris Zoo (archived)

Twitter claim of cars falling from high-rise building (archived post and video)

TikTok video of cars falling from high-rise building (archived)

Reverse image search results (archived)

Footage on Imgur of filming of Fast And Furious 8 (archived post and video)

Fox 8 News tweet (archived)

Halle Bros Parking Garage on Google Maps (archived)

Fox 8 News report on street closures for filming (archived post and video)

TikTok video using footage of cars falling from building from earlier in 2023 (archived post and video)

Twitter video of armed gang (archived post and video)

Twitter video of armed gang, giving Toulouse as the location (archived post and video)

Scottish Sun article from June 2020 (archived)

Sky News Australia video of violence in Dijon, YouTube (archived post)

Le Parisien video of violence in Dijon, YouTube (archived post)

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