Protesters in Bangkok rallied in opposition to the Myanmar junta chief as he visited the town for a regional summit after a devastating earthquake killed greater than 3,600 individuals. However a video of an indication circulating on-line was in actual fact filmed in Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai metropolis at a land rights protest by indigenous teams.
“Min Aung Hlaing, who was requested to depart another person’s nation throughout his go to,” reads a Burmese-language Facebook post shared on April 4.
The accompanying video of a crowd chanting in entrance of a constructing options the identical textual content overlay. It has since racked up greater than 3,800 views.
Screenshot taken on April 11, 2025 of the false submit
The video was shared with the identical declare on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
It surfaced after Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing held talks with leaders from Bay of Bengal littoral nations at an opulent Bangkok resort on April 4, per week after a devastating magnitude-7.7 earthquake killed greater than 3,600 individuals in his dwelling nation (archived link).
The choice to ask him has drawn criticism, and protesters hung a banner from a bridge exterior the venue studying: “We don’t welcome assassin Min Aung Hlaing.”
Nonetheless, the circulating video truly exhibits a land rights protest in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai days earlier than the junta chief visited Bangkok.
A key phrase search on TikTok for the username seen within the Fb video led to a post by a Thai person on March 30, that includes a hashtag studying “protest for land rights” in its caption (archived link).
The person, who additionally posted other videos of the rally, demanded land rights within the video caption (archived here and here).
Thai-language sticker textual content reads, “In case your land is obtainable, ten thousand of us are able to enter your private home.”
Screenshot comparability of the false submit (left) and the unique TikTok submit
Broadcaster Thai PBS revealed similar photos from the rally on Fb on March 29 in a submit that said forest neighborhood and northern farmers’ teams gathered in entrance of the Chiang Mai Metropolis Corridor to demand the federal government overview forest conservation legal guidelines that violated their rights (archived link).
One of many Thai PBS photos exhibits the identical individuals seen within the TikTok video (archived link).
Screenshot comparability of the TikTok video (left) and the Thai PBS photograph with similarities highlighted by AFP
Google Avenue View imagery additionally exhibits the constructing within the TikTok video is the Chiang Mai City Hall, greater than 590 kilometres (370 miles) from Bangkok (archived link).
AFP has debunked different false claims surrounding the devastating earthquake in Myanmar here.
