Footage of Georgia police misrepresented as US crackdown on protesters

Footage of riot police clashing with protesters outside the Georgian parliament surfaced on social media with a false claim that it showed American police unleashing water cannon on Gaza war protesters. The video in fact showed Georgian police dispersing demonstrators in the capital Tbilisi, where thousands gathered against a controversial "foreign influence" bill in April 2024. 

"US police use water cannon trucks to drive away anti-war activists," read a Facebook post written in traditional Chinese that shared the video on May 1, 2024.

"We strongly condemn this atrocity against conscientious, peace-loving people."

The footage shows various clips from street protests, including riot police firing tear gas and water cannon.

In one of the shots, a demonstrator is seen holding a European Union flag and is directly confronted by police water cannons.

The video also spread on Chinese social media platform Weibo, racking up 70,000 views.

The posts emerged as US President Joe Biden called for order as pro-Palestinian protests swept college campuses nationwide amid Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.

Demonstrators have gathered on at least 40 US university campuses since April 17, often erecting tent camps to protest the soaring death toll in Gaza and call for a ceasefire.

Gaza's bloodiest-ever war broke out following Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Militants also seized some 250 hostages.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,562 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Georgia protests

Reverse image search and keyword searches on Google found the footage published by Reuters news agency on May 1, 2024 (archived link).

The video is titled: "Georgia police unleash water cannons on protesters".

According to Reuters' website, the footage shows protests near the Georgian parliament on April 30, 2024 (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the footage shared in false posts (left) and Reuters' video (right):

AFP geolocated the footage to streets surrounding the Georgian parliament, including April 9 Street and Shota Rustaveli Avenue (archived links here and here).

Mass anti-government protests have gripped the Caucasus country since early April, when in a shock move billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's ruling Georgian Dream party brought back a "foreign influence" bill likened to repressive Russian legislation.

Georgian police violently broke up a demonstration on April 30, firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets, and beating and arresting scores of people, AFP reported.

Ruling Georgian Dream party lawmakers voted through the legislation on May 14 in defiance of protesters, who are worried the ex-Soviet republic is shifting away from a pro-Western course back toward Russia.

On the evening of May 15, some 30,000 demonstrators gathered outside Georgian parliament, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.

AFP has debunked more misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war here.

May 21, 2024 The first paragraph of this story was amended to accurately reflect the number of protesters and to correct the month when the protest took place, which was in April, not May