Images of huge crowds of protesters in several towns in Germany have been circulating widely online since early February – but with false and misleading captions. Posts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram claim that the protests were held in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, as Israel continues its deadly assault on the Palestinian enclave. In reality, these are images of large protests held in mid-January against the extreme-right AfD political party.
If you only have a minute:
- Accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have been sharing videos showing a massive protest in Hamburg, Germany, claiming that the demonstration was held in support of Palestinians.
- However, when our team did some reverse image and keyword searches, we determined that these videos were actually filmed during a protest held on January 19 to denounce the policies of the AfD, an extreme-right political party.
The fact check, in detail
Thousands of people have viewed posts on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) featuring videos they claim show giant protests in a number of German cities, including Berlin, Nuremberg and Hamburg. These posts claim that these protests, which drew “thousands of people”, were organised “in support of Palestine”.
The post below, for example, written in French, shows a protest in Hamburg that it says was held in support of Palestinians:
The footage shared by this X account is actually from an Instagram reel first shared by an account called @Deepshallowdive. In its post on February 4, @Deepshallowdive shared footage of a number of protests held in different cities in Germany.
The caption is written in English, though it has many grammatical errors.
“Germany has emerged in, and as one of the largest countries to have prop, [sic] Palestinian gatherings and protest on a weekly basis,” the caption reads. “It seems the German people have united under their support for the self-determination for the Palestinians.”
Protests against the far right
However, when we carried out a reverse image search (check out our guide on how to do one yourself), we realised that this same footage was actually already shared by a number of social media users back in mid-January. The captions on these posts say that the march, held on January 19, was to protest the German extreme-right AfD party.
Moreover, when we did a simple keyword search for “AfD” and “protests”, we discovered articles about these protests as well as photos that match up with the footage of the protest in Hamburg that was misidentified as a pro-Palestinian protest. The press agency AP published an article on the day of the anti-AfD protests reporting that “tens of thousands of people” joined the Hamburg march.
This protest in Hamburg was part of a series of protests against the AfD that took place in cities across Germany in mid-January. At least 1.4 million people joined these protests, according to German media outlet Deutsche Welle.
Read moreHundreds of thousands rally in Germany against far-right deportation plans
The German media outlet reported that the protests were held after the news broke that members of the AfD had supposedly presented a “remigration” plan during a secret meeting in Potsdam in late 2023. They supposedly discussed deporting people to their countries of origin, not just recent migrants but also German citizens with “immigrant roots”. While the extreme-right party has denied allegations of racism, Germany’s domestic security agency continues to “monitor the AfD as a whole on suspicion of being an extremist group”. The AfD is currently the second-most popular political party in Germany.
