Venezuela protest footage falsely shared as crowds 'fleeing cloudburst' in India
As intense monsoon rains and floods swept across India, footage of crowds dashing down a street surfaced in Facebook posts that falsely claimed they were fleeing a cloudburst in the capital Delhi. However, the clip was filmed in Venezuela and circulated in reports about a protest against President Nicolas Maduro's disputed victory in July elections. The Indian capital has never recorded a cloudburst, a meteorologist from the India Meteorological Department told AFP.
"Chaos due to cloudburst in Delhi," read a Hindi-language Facebook post that shared the video on September 14.
The footage shows crowds of people running down a street, with superimposed text saying it was filmed in the Indian capital.
The video spread in similar posts on Instagram and Facebook as monsoon rains lashed swathes of India.
Intense downpours and floods in southern states killed at least 25 people, with thousands rescued and taken to relief camps, disaster officials said on September 2 ( archived here ).
At least 28 people were also killed over three days in the western state of Gujarat. The north-eastern state of Tripura was also hit by floods and landslides in August, with over 20 people killed.
Rains cause widespread destruction every year, but experts say climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events.
However, while there was heavy rain in Delhi, the city has never recorded a cloudburst, Dr Naresh Kumar from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) told AFP on September 23.
A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions, according to the IMD ( archived link ).
Maduro protest
A reverse image search of the video on Google found similar footage posted by an X account that said it showed a protest in Venezuela.
"Protest in Puerto La Cruz, Anzoátegui state, against Maduro's fraud," read the Spanish post from July 30 by "Monitoreamos", which shares news from the South American nation ( archived link ).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in false posts (left) and in the X post about the protest in Venezuela (right). The left-hand footage appears to have been edited to make it look overcast.
Thousands of furious Venezuelans took to the streets on July 29 to protest what they called a stolen election, after the National Electoral Council (CNE) - most of whose members are friendly to 61-year-old President Nicolas Maduro - declared him re-elected to a third six-year term ( archived link ).
The opposition cried foul, while the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognise Maduro's victory without seeing a detailed breakdown of votes cast.
The standoff sparked protests that led to the deaths of 25 civilians and two soldiers, according to official figures, with nearly 200 people injured ( archived link ).
AFP confirmed the video was filmed in Puerto La Cruz, a port city around 300 kilometres (180 miles) east of the capital Caracas.
