By Srijit Das
A video of a brawl that broke out in front of a supermarket engulfed in fire in United Kingdom's Birmingham is circulating on social media with a false communal claim that it shows Muslims beating Hindus after setting a temple on fire during the Navratri festival.
BOOM found that the video shows an accidental fire which broke out on September 19, 2022 at a Birmingham supermarket. As per West Midlands police, the brawl took place due to an argument over car parking.
The video is being shared amid recent reports of clashes between people from Hindu and Muslim communities at Leicester in England. According to media reports, the tension began after India won a cricket match against Pakistan on August 28 in the Asia Cup held in Dubai. Following which hostilities kept simmering in the month of September. The violence led Indian High Commision in UK to release an official statement condemning the attack.
The caption with the video reads, "Birmingham temple burnt by muslim during Navratri. Hindus beaten up England police ineffective in Saving Hindus". (sic)
Click here to view the post.
Click here to view the post.
BOOM also received the video on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906588) for verification.
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Fact Check
BOOM performed a keyword search for "Birmingham Fire" taking a cue from the viral caption and found a portion of the same video tweeted by a verified Birmingham news outlet Birmingham Live on September 20, 2022.
According to the caption of video, the fire broke out in Zeenat Supermarket. The video has been tweeted with the text, "Huge Brawl breaks out beside firefighters as they tackle supermarket fire".
Click here to view the tweet.
The video can be watched from 32 seconds to 51 seconds timestamp.
We also found several news reports about the brawl which happened outside a supermarket in Birmingham on September 19, 2022. The reports further stated that the incident took place outside the Zeenat Supermarket in Birmingham's Alum Rock Road.
Taking a cue, we searched for "Zeenat Supermarket Birmingham" on Google Maps and was able to geolocate the place where the fire broke out.
Additionally, West Midlands Fire Service, in a tweet, clarified that the fire at the supermarket broke out "accidentally" and happened due to "the outdoor burning of rubbish spread to the building".
Click here to view the tweet.
"Fight Connected To Parking Issue"
We also found a tweet from the official handle of West Midlands Police in response to a query about the brawl. The police informed that the fight took place due to a car parking issue and was separate from the fire incident.
Click here to view the tweet.
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